Sinister game: Roedean ducks antisemitism allegation in tennis row

Roedean School, a top Johannesburg private girls’ school, is facing allegations of antisemitism after its first-team tennis side refused to play scheduled tennis matches against players from King David Linksfield (KDL) because they were Jewish. 

The incident has sparked outrage, forced high-level inter-school engagements, and raised alarming questions about alleged discrimination taking place at the school. It has also ignited antisemitism online. 

The SA Jewish Report has in its possession a verified recording of a conversation that took place between King David Principal Lorraine Srage and a member of Roedean’s staff, in which the latter explains that the school is under pressure from its parent body not to play KDL. 

She told Srage, “We are facing a bit of pressure from our community and our constituents regarding not playing against King David. So It’s almost like what’s happening out in society is now affecting us at school level.”. 

The staff member made it clear that “at the moment it is presenting as a Jewish school issue”, but it could get bigger than that. She did, however, end the conversation by saying that she needed to get feedback from her head of sport, and would at be the sports event to ensure that her parent body behaved themselves. 

Wendy Kahn, the national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), said, “Roedean has been reluctant to take ownership of what they did. 

“I can tell you unequivocally that what happened on Tuesday, 3 February, was discrimination and antisemitism, and there’s no going around that. Until Roedean is going to own up to that, apologise, and take action to remedy it, we need to take them on strongly,” she said on ChaiFM on Monday. 

“When a school does something like this, they need to take ownership and send a message to students, the parent body, and society that they will not tolerate any kind of hate. They have to be taken to task, they need to stand up and say what they have done.” 

Senior representatives from both schools engaged in urgent, late night discussions on Sunday, 8 February, following the fallout. The discussions were mediated by a representative from the Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA). Two inconsistent statements from Roedean have cast serious doubt on the school’s account of what occurred. Meanwhile, social media is ablaze with the issue, igniting vitriol and antisemitic comments. 

The controversy centres on the events of Tuesday, 3 February, when KDL’s first and second-team tennis girls travelled by bus to Roedean’s Parktown campus for a scheduled fixture, only to be stood up and turned away. 

In a voice note that went viral, Bruce Nozaic, a senior KDL member of staff, said that in his 36 years in education, he had never encountered anything like this, describing the incident as the most disturbing moment of his career. 

“Our girls are devastated, as you can imagine, to have this antisemitic event thrown into their face,” Nozaic said. 

Rabbi Ricky Seeff, the general director of the South African Board of Jewish Education (SABJE), said the KDL team arrived at Roedean to play the scheduled matches and the Roedean teams “weren’t there to play”. 

“We had been made aware that there may be issues leading up to the match, but we obtained verbal confirmation that the scheduled matches would go ahead,” he told the SA Jewish Report. 

Instead, no-one was there to greet the KDL players. The Roedean girls didn’t show up. 

After some waiting, a Roedean coach from the primary school offered to allow the KDL players to have a “knock around on the courts with some of their younger players”. KDL declined and went home. 

He said, “There were antisemitic undertones behind the no show.” 

“We are trying to unpack the issue, get to the root of it, and come to a point of understanding. Roedean has been very engaging and the meeting was positive. We are trying to get to a point where we can conclude the matter without it dragging on, which isn’t good for either student body,” Seeff said. “We want to put this horrible incident behind us and move on.” 

On Tuesday,  Srage, accompanied by Nozaic, arrived at Roedean to support the team and were reportedly left aghast on being informed that Roedean wouldn’t play the Jewish girls. Parents who had travelled separately to watch the fixture left after it became clear that the matches wouldn’t take place. The students were, sources say, snubbed and turned away without even setting foot on the courts. 

It has emerged that KDL students were called to the principal’s office earlier that day and informed that Roedean had contacted the school on Monday, 2 February, “raising concerns there may be issues” about playing the fixture, and suggesting that it be forfeited. However, after further discussions between the schools, KDL “received verbal confirmation” that the matches would go ahead as planned. 

To ensure the students’ safety and that the fixture ran smoothly, Srage, Nozaic, and a representative of CSO accompanied the team to Roedean. Despite this, upon arrival, a Roedean tennis coach allegedly informed them the matches wouldn’t take place. 

The SAJBD said it condemned “the blatant prejudice shown by Roedean School South Africa, which refused to honour the fixture scheduled with the KDL girls team on the courts of its Parktown campus”. 

“This disturbing refusal to play Jewish students conveys the message that hate and discrimination have become acceptable values at Roedean,” it said. 

In a letter to parents and staff, the SABJE confirmed that the matter was being formally investigated. 

The SAJBD said that it was treating the matter with the seriousness it deserved, and would act in every instance to stand up for students and protect them against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination. Parents, staff, and community members were urged to allow the process to unfold and to refrain from speculation, with student well-being the priority. 

Roedean has issued two public statements which have been criticised as highly inconsistent. 

In the first statement, Roedean said it had formally notified KDL in writing on 2 February that it was unable to field a team due to prior school commitments, including compulsory academic workshops, and had requested a postponement or cancellation of the fixture. The statement said KDL acknowledged this communication, and confirmed in writing that the fixture would be recorded as a forfeit. “As such, no formal fixture was scheduled to take place on 3 February,” Roedean said, pointing out that the contents of Nozaic’s voice note were factually incorrect. 

However, in a second statement, Roedean referred instead to “a scheduled inter-school tennis fixture with KDL that did not proceed as planned”, omitting any reference to a forfeited fixture or prior written agreement. 

Both statements rejected allegations of antisemitism, and said Roedean was engaging directly with KDL and ISASA, adding that it would be inappropriate to debate or litigate the facts publicly while the process was ongoing. 

Roedean had given assurances that it would put out a further statement on Monday, but hadn’t at the time of publication.