JOHANNESBURG (JTA) — The South African government condemned the anti-Semitism at last summer's anti-racism conference in Durban as "disgraceful."

Jewish participants at the non-governmental conference described the anti-Semitism there as the worst seen in public since the 1930s.

Aziz Pahad, South Africa's deputy minister for foreign affairs, told the annual conference of the South African Zionist Federation in Johannesburg several weeks ago that Muslim activists had taken over the conference and turned it into an anti-Semitic event, according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.