The Jewish Board of Deputies has responded to recent calls by EFF leader Julius Malema for the removal of Jewish school Herzlia in Cape Town.

Cape EFF representative Nazier Paulsen posted the following to X: “We’re giving [Western Cape Premier] Alan Winde until the end of the year to close down [Herzlia] school, or the EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] South Africa will have to!”

Efforts include a petition on change.org calling for the school to be shut down because it “unconditionally and unquestioningly supports the state of Israel and promotes this in its education”.

“We should get their names and addresses,” wrote one supporter of the petition, while another wrote, “Nice place for a bomb.”

“Brand them so they can wear their shame on their foreheads”; “Julius [Malema, the head of the EFF], please do your thing”; “We’re breeding local Nazis right here in South Africa,” wrote others. The petition is now under review and cannot be accessed.

The Jewish Board issued a statement through Cape SAJBD chairperson, Adrienne Jacobson:

“We finds these claims to be without merit. When these comments were made, we declined the opportunity to respond publicly as we felt we couldn’t dignify their comments with a public statement. We immediately reached out to both Premier Alan Winde and Minister of Education David Maynier, who reaffirmed their support and assured us that in no way will the school be closed or deregistered.”

This echoes other acts of intimidation against minority education institutions, like Brackenfell High School in 2020, which famously ended with EFF protesters being beaten back by the families of the students, though there was a brief controversy surrounding a Jewish UCT student, Jack Markovits, who showed up to support the EFF's act of intimidation.