- The board of directors of Roedean School in Johannesburg announced on Thursday that the head of the senior school, Phuti Mogale, had resigned with immediate effect.
- Mogale’s resignation came days after Roedean had cancelled a scheduled tennis fixture with King David High after Roedean’s players expressed reservations about playing against King David.
- Roedean also apologised to King David on Thursday, saying its “actions were deeply hurtful to the Jewish community”.
The head of the senior school at top Johannesburg private girls’ school Roedean, Phuti Mogale, has resigned with immediate effect, the school’s board announced on Thursday.
In a statement, the board said it had accepted her resignation.
This follows an apology by Roedean School on Thursday to King David High for the cancellation of a tennis fixture on 3 February, after participants from Roedean expressed reservations about playing against King David High.
Roedean acknowledged that its “actions were deeply hurtful to the Jewish community”.
Following Roedean’s no-show at the match, which was to have been played at Roedean, the deputy head of King David, Bruce Nozaic, alleged in a voice note: “Our King David first-team tennis girls were scheduled to play Roedean this afternoon (3 February) at Roedean, but Roedean has refused to play us because the kids who will be walking onto the courts are Jewish.”
In a letter addressed to the general director of the South African Board of Jewish Education, Rabbi Ricky Seeff, on Thursday, the chair of Roedean’s board, Dale Quaker, stated that “Roedean recognises that it is our obligation to ensure that religious and any other form of discrimination do not come into school sport”.
READ | Roedean vs King David: Head admits some parents objected to playing against Jewish school
“We recognise the impact this situation has had on both our communities and are committed to reflecting on the internal circumstances that led to this outcome.”
Quaker said that Roedean acknowledged that while there were communication challenges which compounded this incident, “these were not the cause of the cancellation of the match as Roedean originally understood and communicated, as has become clear from our ongoing independent investigations”.
“Roedean values the opportunity to engage constructively and learn from this experience and will continue to work with King David School.
“Roedean unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all forms of discrimination or prejudice. Such attitudes have no place in our school or our values. This incident does not reflect Roedean’s ethos or intentions.”
He said they remain firmly committed to fostering an environment of respect, inclusion, and understanding for all members of our community and that “Roedean is committed to combating any forms of racism, discrimination and antisemitism”.
“Through continued dialogue and education, we will work to ensure our values are consistently upheld. The schools are committed to working together in a mutually beneficial way, as they have done for decades and ensuring that our children continue to engage with each other on the sports field and in all contexts with dignity and respect.”
Quaker said that Roedean was committed to further addressing this matter and learning from it, adding:
We look forward to building bridges between our communities and avoiding division. In the spirit that sport should unite rather than divide, we look forward to rescheduling the match for our girls.
News24 reported that Roedean informed parents in a letter last Sunday that it was unable to field a team “due to prior school commitments, including compulsory academic workshops”.
However, Mogale admitted to King David principal Lorraine Srage during a recorded telephone call on 2 February, a day before the fixture, that some of Roedean’s parents had objected to the school playing King David.
During the call, Srage asked Mogale whether parents of pupils were objecting to Roedean playing against King David.
Mogale replied: “Yes, they are basically saying because of the stance that the government took, we are supposed to support that. I keep having to remind them that schools are apolitical first and foremost, particularly in SA; we don’t take a stance like that.”
She told Srage: “I just needed to pick your brain about fixtures, particularly because we are facing a bit of pressure from our community and our constituents regarding just not playing against King David.
“It’s almost like what’s happening out in society is now affecting us at the school level.
“We do have a plan on how to fix it. I need to get a sense of how it is affecting your community because it’s not just something we would ordinarily do or pull out a fixture. We are finding increasingly on campus our community is just placing pressure on us for something that has nothing to do with schools.”
READ | Roedean denies ‘antisemitic’ tennis snub, says King David was informed
Srage indicated that King David had not experienced pressure from any other school.
In response, Mogale asked her, “You haven’t received any complaints about parents as well? Just the parents and any remarks from the side of the court, because I am particularly in our community dealing with that and the manner in which my parents are conducting themselves on the side of the field, particularly where schools, where they feel we need to take a stance against, and we refuse to.”
Srage asked: “So, it’s not just the Jewish day school issue?”
Mogale responded that “it is presenting itself as a Jewish day school issue, but it’s going to get bigger than that”.
There are other schools that they [Roedean] just don’t want to play against.
Srage told Mogale during the telephone conversation that King David was a Jewish day school and “we do identify with the state of Israel”.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Roedean stated that King David was unable to accommodate the postponement “so the fixture had to be cancelled”.
“Regrettably, this cancellation was not effectively communicated to the King David team. We apologise unreservedly for this miscommunication.”
Mogale had been at the helm for just over seven months after taking over on 1 July 2025.
In a statement announcing Mogale’s appointment last year, the school said she had “a stellar track record in girls’ education and embodies the leadership spirit that will guide our school into its next chapter”.
“Her legal background combined with her hands-on experience in education gives her a unique perspective that will benefit our students,” Roedean’s executive director, Lindi Dlamini, said at the time.
