Geoffrey Ramokgadi

ANC Vice President who led Swaziland’s Jewish Community

ASTEADFAST FRIEND of the Jewish people, Geoffrey Ramokgadi, who has died aged 66, served as the head of Swaziland’s small Jewish community and notably as Vice-President of the African National Congress.

Although not Jewish himself, Ramokgadi was fluent in Hebrew, fully familiar with the synagogue services and was considered an “honorary Jew”.

Born in 1953 in South Africa, he first encountered Judaism as a child. His mother was a domestic worker with the Abramowitz family in Johannesburg, where the young Geoff would spend some time in the school holidays. Through talking to the family and looking at their vast collection of Jewish books, he developed an appreciation of Judaism and a sensitivity to the pain of the Holocaust.

Many years later, he said: “I could not believe the oppression and genocide of the six million under the hateful Nazi regime. I could not help thinking that, although we blacks suffered under apartheid, there was no comparison. Then, I felt Judaism and love of the Jewish people burning in my heart.”

Leaving school at the age of 13, he embarked on a musical career and became an exceptional singer. He was the lead singer in a pioneering multi-racial band during the apartheid regime. Over the years, he played with many international stars, including Sir Elton John at the Sun City Superbowl .

His love for the Jewish people was his abiding characteristic. The de facto leader of the Swaziland Jewish community and a stalwart of the African Jewish Congress, he helped arrange synagogue services and other communal events. At the AJC conference in February, he received a tribute for his “many years of outstanding and selfless service to the Jewish communities of Southern Africa and to the people of Eswatini/ Swaziland”. He was also a well-known and popular figure in the World Jewish Congress and the Commonwealth Jewish Council.

Aside from music and the Jewish people, his big passion was education. In 2012, he established the KobeRamokgadi Advanced Learning Academy, a private school outside Mbabane in Swaziland.

A charismatic figure who befriended royalty and political leaders, he brought people together across divides (in some ways reminiscent of his personal friend Nelson Mandela). He used these relationships to advocate Jewish interests and champion the case for Israel. Ann Harris, the President of the AJC, wrote to him a few years ago, making the following comments:

“I have watched you many times fit so comfortably into Jewish life and practice. You have often put me and others to shame! Here I am, a Jewess, born into an old Orthodox family, giving service to Jewish communities the world over, but I often, as so many of us do, grumble about the weight of our religious and communal burdens. Not you, my friend.”

He wrote his life story last year, My Covenant, The Honorary Jew, with the help of Suzanne Belling. He is survived by his wife Dudu,their daughter Cohava Shoshana, and children by other partners. He was buried in his birthplace, Rustenburg, South Africa.

Geoffrey Ramokgadi: born August 25, 1953. Died Sep 13, 2019.