‘Ashamed’: Rodney Plett apologises after Norwood anti-Muslim tirade - IOL

Rodney Plett has apologised to Abdur Rahamaan and South Africa’s Muslim community after a video showed him directing racist and anti-Muslim abuse at the motorist outside a Norwood synagogue.

Rodney Plett has apologised to Abdur Rahamaan and South Africa’s Muslim community after a video showed him directing racist and anti-Muslim abuse at the motorist outside a Norwood synagogue.

He said he was ashamed of his behaviour.

On the day of Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Plett was recorded during a road rage incident hurling derogatory and racist insults at Rahamaan  saying “all Indians Muslims must die.” 

In a statement on Friday, Plett said Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was when Jews asked forgiveness for the wrongs they had done to other people.

He said he had been fasting for about 23 hours and had not taken his medication. 

“I had a headache and was rushing to the shul (synagogue), where I was due to perform security duties. As I was travelling along Scholtz Road in Norwood, indicating to turn right onto Algernon Road, a high-powered bakkie travelling in the opposite direction at a high speed suddenly braked and turned left into Algernon Road, where I was also about to turn, without indicating that he intended to do so. 

“I had not anticipated the vehicle turning and, from my perspective, I came close to colliding with it. I became angry. I should simply have carried on to shul, but instead I chose to confront the driver and express my anger.”

Plett said his actions were a “serious error of judgement on my part.”

He said nothing excused how he had behaved, and he would not insult Rahamaan by looking for an excuse.

He said he watched the video and was ashamed at what he saw.

He extended his apology to all Muslims.

“I swore at Rahamaan and insulted him, and then I made a remark about Israel and Muslims that was hurtful and wrong. In hindsight, I should never have responded in the way that I did. I am truly sorry.

“I am not going to try to explain those words away. Nothing makes them acceptable, and I will not insult Rahamaan by looking for an excuse.

“I have asked myself many times since Monday why I brought the war into it. I do not have a good answer. I was angry, and I reached for the thing I knew would hurt most,” said Plett.

“Rahamaan had done nothing to deserve that. This war has brought grief to Jewish and Muslim families all over the world, including here in South Africa.

“Many have watched people they love, or people they connect with, suffer. I took that pain and threw it at a stranger in the street as if it were a weapon. I know what it feels like when someone mocks that grief. I did to him exactly what I would never want done to me,” he added.

“That is what I am most ashamed of, and I am truly sorry to him, and to every Muslim South African who heard my words and felt that I meant them too.”

Plett said Rahamaan and his family, and every Muslim South African, were entitled to feel safe and respected on their own streets. 

He admitted that his words did nothing to help Rahamaan feel that. 

“I would welcome the chance to apologise to him in person, whenever and wherever he is willing. My legal representatives have formally approached Rahamaan's attorneys with a proposal regarding an apology and settlement. “We have not yet received a response and remain ready to engage constructively when they are in a position to do so,” Plett said,

“I also owe an apology to my own community. Judaism teaches that when one Jew behaves badly in public, people do not see one man; they see all Jews, and the name of God is shamed with him.

“We call this a chillul Hashem, and on Yom Kippur, of all days, that is what I caused. Thousands of Jewish South Africans who have spent their lives building friendships with their Muslim neighbours, and who had nothing to do with what I said, have been judged by it,” he added.

He said he also apologised to  Rabbi Mordechai and Sara Rodal, the Chabad of Norwood congregation, and to the wider Jewish community. 

“My shul has always taught me the opposite of what I said. The responsibility for repairing this is mine, and I intend to carry it.

“I know that saying sorry is not enough. I intend to show by how I live from now on that I mean it. I ask only that no one harass or threaten Mr Rahamaan or his family, and that no one uses what I did to set the communities of Norwood against each other.”

Plett said due to a police investigation, he would not comment further, and would not be giving interviews to the media.