Hundreds of enthusiastic protestors gathered outside the headquarters of Cricket SA (CSA) this afternoon to vent their outrage at the removal of David Teeger as captain of the SA u19 cricket side and to demand his reinstatement.
In a shock decision last Friday, CSA announced that Teeger had been stripped of his captaincy ahead of the u19 World Cup, citing security concerns. A campaign has been waged against Teeger following reports that he had made comments in support of Israel and its defense forces in the wake of the 7 October terror attacks. This has continued despite an independent investigation commissioned by CSA itself having cleared him of any wrongdoing. CSA has also failed to produce any credible evidence of security threats to the tournament.
This has led to the SA Jewish Board of Deputies to accuse the country's premier cricketing authority of antisemitic discrimination against a young community member whose only 'offense' had been to express solidarity with his fellow Jews at a private Jewish
communal event.
Amidst singing and shouts of "We want David" and "Teeger! Teeger!" succession of speakers denounced what was described as a politically motivated and blatantly discriminatory decision on the part of CSA. They included former SA international Mandy Yachad, who has been a vociferous critic of CSA's handling of the issue. SA Zionist Federation President Avrom Krengel declared that the protest was not only aimed at banishing antisemitism but all forms of racism from South African sport.
"We need to take back cricket and our country from people who do not represent us anymore" Krengel said.
