South Africa’s Sports Minister, Gayton McKenzie, has joined public calls for the Proteas to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan next month, criticizing the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to uphold its own rules regarding gender equality in sport. McKenzie expressed his strong disapproval of the Taliban government’s ban on women’s sports and its dissolution of Afghanistan’s national women’s cricket team.
In a statement on Thursday, McKenzie emphasized his “moral obligation” to support the boycott, stating, “It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honour cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen.” He continued, “As a man who comes from a race that was denied equal access to sporting opportunities during apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to turn a blind eye today when the same injustice is being done to women anywhere in the world.”
The Proteas are set to face Afghanistan on February 21 in a group match in Karachi, Pakistan. McKenzie’s statement follows similar calls from over 160 U.K. politicians urging England to forfeit its match against Afghanistan on February 26, also citing concerns over the Taliban’s treatment of women.
McKenzie also criticized the ICC for what he described as hypocrisy, pointing to the suspension of Sri Lanka Cricket from November 2023 to January 2024 due to government interference, while Afghanistan has not faced similar sanctions for political meddling in sport.
“This does not happen in the case of Afghanistan, suggesting that political interference in the administration of sport is being tolerated there,” McKenzie said. He urged Cricket South Africa, other cricket federations, and the ICC to carefully consider the message they are sending to the world, particularly to women in sports.
“I hope the consciences of all those involved in cricket, including supporters, players, and administrators, will take a firm stand in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan,” McKenzie concluded.
Simply wish to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is just excellent
and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your
permission allow me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the gratifying work.
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in penning
this blog. I’m hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts by you
later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities
has motivated me to get my very own blog now 😉
I am in fact glad to read this webpage posts which includes plenty
of valuable data, thanks for providing these kinds
of information.
Hi there to every body, it’s my first go to see of
this website; this website contains amazing and genuinely excellent data designed for visitors.
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I
thought this post was great. I don’t know
who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you
aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
I have been browsing on-line greater than three hours today, but I never found any fascinating article like yours.
It’s pretty value sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be
much more useful than ever before.
Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Many thanks for supplying these details.
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long
as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My blog
is in the exact same niche as yours and my users would truly benefit from some of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this ok with you. Thanks a lot!
I simply couldn’t leave your website before suggesting that I really loved the standard info an individual supply to your
visitors? Is going to be back continuously
in order to check up on new posts