Normal diplomatic relations between South Africa and Israel should resume in the not-too-distant future, according to former South African chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
“I am confident that with the prayers that are going on – there is a team that holds prayers for the peace of Jerusalem every Saturday back home – at one point, and I believe not far from today, that will become a practical reality,” Mogoeng said in an exclusive interview on October 18 during his first visit to Israel.
“I am confident that with the prayers that are going on – there is a team that holds prayers for the peace of Jerusalem every Saturday back home – at one point, and I believe not far from today, that will become a practical reality.”
Mogoeng Mogoeng
He was speaking before a Feast of Tabernacles gala at Jerusalem’s Payis Arena, which he attended with his wife. “I really can’t speak for the government... All I can say is this: the minute the overwhelming majority come to terms with the heartbeat of God regarding the relationship between our country and Israel, the easier it will be for their voice to be heard when it says, ‘Let’s have a healthy relationship between our country and Israel.’”
Mogoeng said he believes the continent of Africa, where many states have good relations with Israel, could also play a role. “Not only our country, but our continent as well, Africa, has a critical role to play in facilitating healthy relations between South Africa and Israel,” he said. “The challenge is more spiritual, than political. That critical majority will speak out, and when it speaks out about the need for healthy relations between the two nations, that voice cannot be disregarded, and that is when the will of God will find practical expression.”
South Africa’s ANC government, traditionally a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, recalled its ambassador in 2018 following violence along the Israel-Gaza border, and announced a year later that it had officially downgraded its embassy in Israel to a liaison office.
Feast of Tabernacles and the Nehemiah Award
Mogoeng, a devout Christian who served as chief justice from 2011 to 2021, was in Israel with a 90-member delegation from South Africa as part of the annual Feast of the Tabernacles (the Jewish festival of Sukkot).
On October 12, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) – which organizes the annual gathering of Christians from around the world – presented him its Nehemia Award “for his courageous biblical stand with Israel, which has contributed greatly to the just and moral cause of the Jewish nation and people.”
In receiving the award, Mogoeng said, “I’m overwhelmed. It’s a great honor. What better present can you ever get than to be recognized for your little contribution and to be appreciated by fellow Christians and in the Holy Land.”
More than 2,000 Christians are participating in the week-long festivities for the Feast of the Tabernacles, which culminate in a colorful march through the streets of Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon.
An apology for statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Asked about the apology he was forced to make on February 3 by South Africa’s Judicial Conduct Committee, after telling a webinar organized by The Jerusalem Post in 2020 that South Africa had deprived itself of “a wonderful opportunity of being a game-changer in the Israeli-Palestinian situation,” Mogoeng said the country’s highest court had vindicated him in mid-February.
The Constitutional Court rejected an application by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to recuse him from a hate speech case concerning Bongani Masuku, Cosatu’s former international relations secretary. (The court later ordered Masuku to apologize to the Jewish community for antisemitic comments he made 13 years ago.)
“Look at what the highest court in the land had to say about that Jerusalem Post saga,” Mogoeng said, pulling out a copy of the ruling: “It’s an untenable stretch to characterize Mogoeng CJ’s comments as expressing ‘unconditional support for the State of Israel,’ when the context quite evidently shows that Mogoeng CJ was communicating his biblical love for all, including Israel and Palestine, and his opinion on South Africa’s painful past and unique perspective, which enables it to advocate for peace in the global context.”
In other words, Mogoeng said, “I was made to apologize for what the highest court in the land says I shouldn’t have been ordered to apologize for... So I thank God, who came through for me and announced through a court whose decision cannot be appealed, that I had done nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.”
Mogoeng said he had been deeply impressed by his first visit to Israel.
“It makes the Bible more real than I ever thought it could be,” he said. “To visit the sites and the Holy Land itself has been an amazing experience... It’s an amazing experience to see how the different nationalities converge here, the different ethnic groups, and even the different religions. The coexistence is amazing.”
Although he steered away from politics in the interview, Mogoeng said regarding his own religious beliefs, “I believe in Genesis 12, verses one to four. I believe that my love for Israel and my love for the Jews, without excluding my love for others, my refusal to curse the Jews, my refusal to curse Israel, cause me to be blessed. I also believe that any nation that adopts that stance, that chooses to love Israel, to bless Israel and not to curse Israel, will receive the blessings of Abraham. That’s my belief.”
Asked about the Jewish community in South Africa, whose numbers have plunged from 120,000 in the early 1970s to under 50,000 today, Mogoeng encouraged Jews to stay and others to return: “The best is around the corner, and it’s not too far,” he said. “Everybody who has left the country must appreciate that their expertise is required to rebuild one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful country, on the face of the earth.”
Asked if he had a message to readers during Sukkot, Mogoeng said: “The Feast of Tabernacles presents us with an opportunity, all of us, regardless of our religion, to search and search hard for where we went wrong, to reconnect more intimately with our God, so that He can take us to where he is burning with the desire to take us to. The Land of Milk and Honey, the land of commerce and abundance, can still be reconnected with, and this feast presents us with an opportunity to do so. Having been to the Western Wall and seen how we were all praying from the depths of our hearts, I believe that God will accept our repentance and grant us the desires of our hearts, which are peaceful coexistence, prosperity and victory against every opposition that confronts us in our individual lives but also in our lives as a nation.”
Who is Mogoeng Mogoeng?
Born on January 14, 1961, in the village of Goo-Mokgatlha (Koffiekraal), in northwestern South Africa, Mogoeng is married to Mmaphefo Anna Mogoeng, and they have three children.
He has enjoyed a long and distinguished legal career, holding B Juris and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees from the universities of Zululand and Natal, respectively. He also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of South Africa. In addition, he has been awarded an honorary doctor of Laws (LLD) degree by the University of the North West and the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. And an honorary Doctor of Letters degree was conferred on him by River University in Tampa, Florida.
In 1997, he began serving as a judge in a regional high court, then a labor appeal court judge, a judicial president in a regional high court, a Constitutional Court justice, and finally Chief Justice of South Africa. During his 10-year term as chief justice, Mogoeng also was elected as president of the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA), and served as chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal for a period of four years.
He has also been named in the South African media as a potential candidate for president of South Africa, and in an address to a gala dinner hosted by the Southern African Institute of Government Auditors in Pretoria on September 15, Mogoeng responded to a question about the recent endorsement for president he received from the African Alliance Movement (AAM).
“I know that I’m called to be president, but I don’t know when or how,” he said.
In its press statement about the Nehemiah Award, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem notes that it presents it annually to “a Christian leader who has distinguished themselves as a strong, committed supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.”
The award is named after Nehemiah, who spearheaded the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile to Israel,” the statement said. “He not only displayed great courage and zeal, but he was a determined and godly leader. The biblical book bearing his name records his accomplishments in rebuilding the fallen walls of Jerusalem and leading his people in spiritual renewal.”
It explained why it decided to make Mogoeng Mogoend this year’s prize laureate:
“As a prominent public figure and devout Christian, Chief Justice Mogoeng has since April 12, 2020, been leading a prayer and intercession movement for the nation of South Africa and the rest of the African continent to fulfill its divine prophetic destiny without delay. Through his project, Mogoeng has and continues to travel across the length and breadth of South Africa to share the message of hope, healing, restoration and revival according to the prophecies of God concerning the nation and the rest of the continent.
“Also of great note, over the past year Chief Justice Mogoeng has distinguished himself in South Africa and worldwide as a committed, courageous and principled supporter of Israel on biblical grounds. After voicing support for Israel on this basis, he bravely refused to reverse his stand in the face of tremendous public pressure and arguably unprecedented vilification.”
The statement concluded: “May he continue to bless and support Israel on biblical principles and encourage others to do likewise.” ■