The ‘Roedean Affair’: Where deep faultlines exist, any victory can only be pyrrhic

Supporters of King David Linksfield see their victory over Roedean as complete. They’ve been vindicated by a grovelling apology from Roedean School and both the chair of the board and principal of the senior school have resigned with immediate effect over their clumsy handling of the situation. An investigation, we are told, is under way.

Equally important, the supporters have been successful in their strategy of framing the narrative as one where the school and its pupils were victimised because of their religion as opposed to any overt political ideology espoused. In all of these things they’ve won a comprehensive battle. Yet time will tell whether it turns out to be pyrrhic victory – achieved at huge cost, which might perversely lead to the actual war of ideas proving elusive.

To properly assess “The Roedean Affair” – as this saga will doubtless come to be known in years to come – the crucial question will not be about who has won, but rather what the likely implications will be. Here’s what I believe these will be.

First, expect more pushback in future, not less. Attitudes towards Israel and Palestine, especially as a result of Gaza, are one of the great faultlines in our South African society – its flashpoints occur with regularity across university campuses, offices and even between families, especially as our government has made it such a distinctive piece of our foreign policy. In such a context the Roedean Affair was simply the latest battleground. It wasn’t even the first school skirmish – that honour belongs to Redhill School back in 2021 – and it certainly won’t be the last, much as King David might hope it will be.

While other private schools might harbour such instincts within their ranks as those which drove the schoolgirls of Roedean to act, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll feel secure enough at this point in time to give voice to their concerns – the King David victory has had a chilling effect. But, like all resentment, embers should not be underestimated and it’s likely at some point to become emboldened again. Expect greater challenges to King David’s avowed, muscular links to a country found, by any empirical basis of international law judgments, to be guilty of genocide.

The reality is that this is a school which makes no secret that absolute fealty to Israel is an article of faith, impervious to context. It’s a school which, in 2014, bullied a deputy head boy for expressing Palestinian solidarity and contemplated stripping him of this title. It’s also a school under increasing scrutiny about whether it sends alumni to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – an army accused of abetting the genocide. Former alumni speak of indoctrination. Such issues aren’t simply going away and unless King David disavows or softens these links, it’s naïve to expect opposition to melt away over such a contentious issue.

Second, while Johannesburg private school interactions with King David will continue, perhaps more sophisticated forms of protest will evolve over time. These could range from silent peaceful protests by visiting schoolchildren, including wearing armbands, pins or bodywear to show Palestinian solidarity, to those being chosen for teams to then conscientiously object to taking part in interactions with King David. The point is that future discomfort may well be expressed more creatively than what occurred at Roedean. Expecting high school children to be apolitical and unconcerned about the world around them may be a blissful thought, but not only is it naïve to expect, it’s also downright doing them a disservice in a country where we overcame apartheid through public protest.

Third, expect greater suspicion between schools. Teachers and school staff must be walking on eggshells right now. Who’d want to be a teacher where every possible encounter comes with the latent threat of danger? Their communications could be recorded and used against them by unscrupulous colleagues, peers or even scholars. They’ll be fearful of speaking their mind. Boards will be panicking, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the next protest. The example of Redhill School in 2021, where the headmaster simply tried to wish the issue away by banning all discussion, will not work in current times.

Fourth, expect a greater doubling down from parallel journalism sources masquerading as the real thing, and with a thinly veiled Islamophobia. Blogs were aflutter, promoting instant analysis and even, on occasion, conspiracy theories about Roedean being taken over by Islamists – a preposterous story hanging on the barest of threads. These are not serious, independent journalists (and often include discredited ones) but their bark is loud and collective fervour, enhanced by social media algorithms, ferocious. This modus operandi is not new: Imtiaz Sooliman was subject to wildly implausible and unreliable attempts to link him, depending on the situation, to either Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood (a bogeyman and “catch-all” once the first three unproven links failed) after he spoke out against Gift of the Givers’ Gazan staff being killed by the IDF. The unsubtle attempt is clear: Israel/Palestine must be framed as a religious war, not a human rights one. Still, expect such sources to proliferate as long as readers don’t prioritise evidence over emotion.

We have a very real and growing faultline in our society. Will King David understand the discomfort, and be open to softening its stance? Will future protests ensure their protests are completely free of crude antiSemitism? Will defenders of the faith resist the creeping Islamophobia? Until these things occur, the faultline is not going away. DM

Kalim Rajab is a writer and corporate executive based in Johannesburg. He was educated at the universities of Cape Town and Oxford, the latter as an Oppenheimer Scholar. He is the author of A Man of Africa, published by Penguin Random House.

Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to faultiness in the headline. That was incorrect. It has been corrected to faultlines post publication. We regret the error.