When Christian community leader Clive Mashishi, the founder of the Clive Mashishi Foundation and volunteer for the South African Friends of Israel, found out that he was going to have a son, he knew that his son’s name would be very important.
Mashishi spent a long time looking for names. Everything changed when he witnessed David Teeger accepting the Rising Star Award at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards on 22 October 2023, and saying in his speech, “The true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel. I’d like to dedicate it to the state of Israel and every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora.”
“I fell in love with the spirit of David,” Mashishi says. “That he stood up against all odds to fight for what he believes in as a young Jewish man. It’s rare for someone to get an award and dedicate it to Israeli soldiers, especially at this time, because he knew that was going to be difficult, but for him to take such a step for his fellow Jewish brothers, touched me. I told myself that I wanted my son to be brave for his community and the people of South Africa like David Teeger.
“I want my son to have the same courage and belief in standing strong and defending what he believes in as Teeger has,” Mashishi says. He also hopes that his son will have “pride in his nation”.
“To support the Jewish community is about the courage that we see and the pride that it has for the nation.”
Similarly, Mashishi’s daughter, Zion, who was born on 25 January 2019, shows Mashishi’s love of Israel and commitment to Zionism. “If I forget to love the state of Israel, I will also forget to love my daughter,” Mashishi says.
