Abdur Rahmaan Aziz thought the driver flashing his lights and hooting behind him in Norwood might be someone he knew. He pulled over. Instead, he says, Rodney Plett called him the K-word and threatened his family.
Plett drove off and Aziz followed him to Chabad of Norwood, where Aziz filmed him directing racist abuse at him and referring to people being killed in Gaza.
Aziz has opened a crimen injuria case at Norwood police station and filed a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission. Two days after the incident, he told the Mail & Guardian he had slept for only two hours the previous night and was receiving threatening messages online.
“I felt belittled. I felt undermined. I felt degraded,” he said. “I am not scared. I am scared for the wellbeing of my family.”
Chabad of Norwood condemned Plett’s language, identifying him as a member of its congregation. It said it was particularly distressed that some of his comments were made outside the synagogue. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) also condemned his conduct. “What happened represents the individual alone,” it said in a statement.
Johannesburg pastor and social worker Nigel Branken has challenged both organisations to explain what they will do beyond condemning the abuse.
“Your responses to Rodney Plett’s racist abuse are outrageous precisely because you declare the limits of responsibility before explaining what you have investigated,” he wrote in a public statement addressed to Chabad and the SAJBD.
Branken asked what Plett’s documented connection to Chabad meant for its response. In October 2018, the SA Jewish Report identified Rodney and Anita Plett as sponsors of a Torah scroll for the congregation. The report cited Chabad of Norwood’s motto: “We’re not just a shul, we’re family.”
“Well, what does being family require now?” Branken asked.
Plett’s reference to Gaza was also central to Branken’s criticism. He argued that it could not be separated from the racist abuse because Plett himself brought it into the confrontation.
“In this incident, the reference to Israeli violence makes the political connection explicit,” he wrote. “The abuse itself invokes it.”
Aziz said he understood Plett’s remark as an expression of hostility towards Muslims.
Asked whether it condemned the Gaza remark specifically, Chabad gave a broader answer: “We unequivocally condemn all the remarks.”
The SAJBD told the Mail & Guardian: “We reject all of these utterances. The Middle East conflict is an extremely divisive issue. It is unnecessary for this painful conflict to be imported to the streets of Johannesburg.”
Rabbi Mordechai Rodal said he had spoken to Aziz the morning after the incident. “We discussed getting together to chat about how to turn this into something that will build bridges instead of the divisions we are witnessing,” he said. According to the rabbi, Aziz said he believed in promoting unity and looked forward to meeting for coffee.
Aziz confirmed they had spoken, but said no meeting had been arranged. “I just have a lot to process,” he said.
The SAJBD said it was encouraged by the rabbi’s approach and hoped Aziz would agree to meet him. “At times like this, dialogue is critical,” it said.
Asked whether Chabad had taken, or intended to take, action concerning Plett’s membership, Rabbi Mordechai and Sorale Rodal said they had taken the matter seriously and made clear that his behaviour and language were “completely unacceptable”.
“We do not believe it is appropriate to publicly discuss the details of an individual’s circumstances,” they said. Chabad did not say whether Plett’s membership had been affected.
The SAJBD said it was unaware of threats against Aziz and that, if he had received any, he should report them to the authorities.
Aziz has urged people not to turn his experience into hostility between communities. Ahead of Heritage Day, he appealed to South Africans to confront racism and Islamophobia without deepening divisions between neighbours.
“We need to gather the courage to stand up for ourselves, stand up for what is right, and put an end to racism,” he said.