Anti-apartheid activist Frank Chikane has entered the fray in the dispute between Roedean and King David High Schools. Chikane expressed concern over the handling of the matter, saying the debate has shifted away from the well-being of the pupils involved.
Chikane said the trauma reportedly experienced by Roedean pupils after encountering what parents describe as Zionist propaganda during a 2024 fixture at King David has been largely overlooked.
“I am concerned about the children. In this whole debate, what hurt the children has been put under the carpet,” he said. “My plea is that the concerns of the children must be considered more than the politics.”
Chikane argued that criticism of Zionism is often incorrectly framed as an attack on Jewish people.
“It is not that Roedean does not want to play Jews. When you look at the details, you can tell it is the Zionism at King David that made the children feel they could not play them.”
While stressing that he did not want to pass judgment on how Roedean dealt with the matter, Chikane said the school should have acted faster and more decisively once it became clear that pupils were uncomfortable.
“The school should have done what they are doing now: bring in a facilitator, have a conversation, make a decision as a school, and then advise their colleagues at King David of their position, even if they differed,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Kathrada Foundation was called in to deal with divisions on the matter, but it seemingly yielded little result.
According to Foundation executive director Neeshan Balton, Roedean’s community engagement portfolio requested them to facilitate an informal discussion. This created a safe space for the tennis players to express their feelings.
“We did that session, and what emerged was that these learners were incredibly uneasy about the upcoming match against King David. The key issue was that at the previous matches they felt a huge presence of armed security and a display of propaganda all over.
“In our feedback session to the school, we conveyed that it was a complex issue and whatever decision they took was going to affect team dynamics. We guided them to say that the decision on what they do really rests on the school and that the burden should not be placed on the learners,” he said.
However, Rabbi Ricky Seeff, general director of King David School, denied these allegations, saying the only material displayed called for the release of hostages. “We would have facilitated discussion if any students were uncomfortable,” he said.
He told Sunday World that the cancellation was discriminatory and warned that global conflicts should not interfere with South African education. King David is calling on leaders and sporting bodies to adopt zero tolerance for discrimination.
King David High School has accepted Roedean School’s apology after a scheduled sporting event was cancelled, but the dispute has sparked a national debate over antisemitism and the politicisation of school sports.
“The statement that we won’t ‘play a Jewish school’ is discriminatory and antisemitic.”
Furthermore, Seeff defended Zionism as central to Jewish identity. “Zionism… is an integral part of Jewish identity. We unequivocally support Israel as a Jewish state because of its centrality to the Jewish people globally,” he said, adding that King David does not take a political stance on Israel’s government.
Despite accepting Roedean School’s apology, Seeff said reconciliation would only be meaningful through normal sporting engagement, not media spectacles.
Roedean School faced backlash this week for refusing to honour a tennis fixture scheduled for February 3. According to King David, concerns were first raised the day before when Roedean principal, Phuti Mogale, contacted their school head, Lorraine Srage, and reportedly warned that some Roedean parents did not want the match to go ahead because their opponents were from a Jewish school.
Roedean then sent a formal letter confirming the match forfeiture, which King David acknowledged. However, Mogale allegedly called again later in the day to say the fixture would proceed as planned. When the King David team arrived at Roedean, ready to compete, their opponents were a no-show.
On Wednesday, Roedean held a town hall meeting where the parents in attendance were divided on whether the school should be concerned about their children playing against a pro- Zionist school.
At least three parents who attended the meeting said there were different views on the matter. Some felt that kids were mentally strained by what they saw at King David Linksfield in 2024 and that this kind of situation cannot be repeated. Others felt that Roedean should maintain its stance as an apolitical school and not begin to blur the lines.
There were concerns raised about the possible harassment of pupils, especially when wearing their school uniform, and a consideration towards transporting them in unmarked vehicles to away sporting competitions.
Parents were also concerned that the King David version of events was dominating the public sphere, while Roedean School was still deciding on its next step.
Mogale has since resigned as principal of the prestigious girls’ school. According to some parents, the blame could not fall squarely on her. She tendered her resignation on Tuesday and did not attend the town hall meeting. “She is heavily pregnant, so I understand why she did not want to engage in the matter and focus on herself,” a parent explained.
Roedean will launch a two-week investigation into the matter, which will be conducted by an external body.
Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content
