South Africa’s Sports Minister, Gayton McKenzie, has joined a growing chorus of voices urging the national cricket team, the Proteas, to boycott their upcoming match against Afghanistan.
This call comes in response to the Taliban government’s ban on women’s sports in Afghanistan, which has effectively disbanded the national women’s cricket team.
McKenzie, in a statement released on Thursday, expressed his “moral obligation” to support a boycott, stating, “As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed 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 towards women anywhere in the world.”
The Proteas are scheduled to face Afghanistan on February 21st in a group match of the Champions Trophy, to be held in Karachi, Pakistan.
This call for a boycott follows a similar plea from over 160 U.K. politicians who urged the English cricket team to forfeit its match against Afghanistan on February 26th.
Minister McKenzie also leveled criticism at the International Cricket Council (ICC), accusing them of hypocrisy for failing to uphold their own mandates that require member nations to develop both men’s and women’s cricket.
He pointed to the suspension of Sri Lanka Cricket by the ICC from November 2023 to January 2024 due to government interference as evidence of this inconsistency.
“This does not happen in the case of Afghanistan, suggesting that political interference in the administration of sport is being tolerated there,” McKenzie said.
The Minister emphasized the importance of sending a strong message to the world about the value of women in sports.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries, and the ICC will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world, and especially the women in sports,” he said. “I hope that the consciences of all those involved in cricket, including the supporters, players, and administrators, will take a firm stand in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan.”
