Gauteng Council pays tribute to outgoing execs

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD’s) Gauteng Council held its last meeting on Monday, 24 October, before its biennial conference in November. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to outgoing chairperson Harold Jacobs, who with the staunch support of his executive, vice-chairperson Danny Mofsowitz, and Leslie-Anne Gatter, has done an exemplary job in taking the organisation forward after I stepped down last year to step into the national position. Under Jacobs’ quiet and unassuming yet hands-on and innovative leadership, the Gauteng Council has gone from strength to strength, and done so moreover in an unfailing spirit of warm friendship and mutual respect among its members, in spite of the diversity of their backgrounds, activities, and areas of expertise.

Another distinguishing feature of the outgoing council has been the unusual extent to which individual members have been involved in its activities outside of the monthly council meetings. Practically all who sit around the table have at one time or another been involved in initiating, planning, organising, and participating in the wide range of events run by the Gauteng Board. These have included interfaith initiatives, political engagements with the Gauteng provincial government and mayor’s office, on-campus activities with Jewish students, social-outreach projects, and the #MakeUsCount 2021 municipal elections campaign. They make up an outstanding team, and we look forward to working with them all on further exciting projects over the next two years.

At the same meeting, tribute was paid to two long-serving Gauteng Council stalwarts, Marc Pozniak and Liza Essers, who have relocated to other cities and hence didn’t put themselves forward for re-election. Pozniak also sits on the Board’s national executive, on which he serves as one of the three national vice-chairpersons, and is a former executive member of the World Jewish Congress. Both Pozniak and Essers were in their own way an invaluable resource to the Board and also provided unstinting support to the lay leadership and professional staff. We wish them all success in this new phase of their lives, and have little doubt that they will continue to involve themselves and contribute to Jewish communal life in their respective new homes.

The new council will be elected at the first, official, leg of the conference on 6 November, at which outgoing members will report back to our affiliate bodies on the activities of the Gauteng Council during its two-year term of office, and delegates will have an opportunity to comment and ask questions. This will be followed on 10 November by the second part of the conference, which is open to the community at large. As previously reported, we are privileged that Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, will be keynote speaker for the occasion. Such has been the interest generated that the event is almost fully booked. Look out for further details over the next two weeks in this column and on the SAJBD Facebook site.

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