JEFF KATZ
In addition to addressing matters of immediate, practical concern, we hope that President Zuma will also deal in a meaningful way with the more intangible but no less important issue of maintaining harmonious intergroup relations in our society.
It cannot be denied that these have been under increasing strain in recent years and that this is seriously undermining the ability of South Africans to work together in meeting and overcoming the many common challenges we face.
Elected leaders have a particular responsibility to try to heal divisions between different sectors of the population while always adhering to strict moral and ethical principles.
Already this year, the Board has on several occasions felt the need to speak out against anti-Semitic allegations of Jewish financial domination, which are frequently advanced as the root cause of South Africa’s problems.
Generally, racist conspiracy theorising is confined to the darker fringes of the Internet and social media, but there are concerning signs that they are starting to gain a degree of acceptance in mainstream society. A reprehensible comment to this effect, for example, was made last week by Edward Zuma.
When Jews are commonly seen as being behind a society’s problems, then it is a sure sign that that society is in trouble. Nor, as history has invariably shown, does the racism stop with the Jews; all too often anti-Semitism is simply a prelude to the rights and dignity of other groups being trampled on.
Last week, a letter appeared in Business Day claiming that the Jewish community had been silent in the face of rising Islamophobia, both locally and abroad. We were of, course, able to respond unequivocally that this is far from the truth (which the letter writer would have discovered himself had he investigated more carefully).
Reference was made to the decisive manner in which our Cape Council condemned the recent cases of mosque desecration in the Western Cape and expressed unreserved solidarity with the Muslim community.
This included hosting an interfaith meeting attended by over 40 different faith community leaders, who joined in condemning such unacceptable behaviour.
In this way, the Board seeks to realise a core part of our mission, which is to lead our community in building bridges of friendship and solidarity with our fellow South Africans. Through this, one hopes, we can be a meaningful part of the solution to what is one of our country’s most urgent problems.
