South Africa’s sports minister has joined calls to boycott Afghanistan at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, adding his voice to those of British politicians who have called on England not to play there next month .
England and South Africa share the same group with Afghanistan in the competition and are under pressure to boycott the fixtures in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021. South Africa should open their Champions Trophy against Afghanistan. in Karachi on February 21, but Gayton McKenzie has urged his country’s cricket governing body not to honor the fixture.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries and the ICC (International Cricket Council) will need to think carefully about the message cricket wants to send to the world, and in particular to women in sport,” McKenzie said: “It is not for me, as Minister for Sports, to make the final decision as to whether South Africa should honor cricket matches against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, it definitely wouldn’t happen.
“As a man from a race that did not have equal access to sporting opportunities during apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done. made towards women all over the world. »
Peter Hain, a former British minister and anti-apartheid campaigner who grew up in South Africa, wrote to Cricket South Africa this week calling on the organization to challenge the ban on women’s and women’s cricket in Afghanistan. More than 160 British politicians have signed a cross-party letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), calling for a boycott of England’s match against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould responded by calling for a uniform approach from all member countries regarding Afghanistan’s participation in international cricket. There was no comment from Cricket South Africa, which was contacted for a response.
Australia is the other country scheduled to face Afghanistan, in Lahore on February 26. Cricket Australia indefinitely postponed a men’s bilateral Twenty 20 series against Afghanistan last March, citing “the deterioration of the human rights of women and girls in the country under Taliban rule”. But they faced them in the World Cup in India at the end of 2023 and in the T20 World Cup last June.
Cricket Australia president Mike Baird said last month he was “very proud of the position we took” after they were accused of hypocrisy. “We have taken a stand and we stand proudly where we believe we should,” he said.