Cricket South Africa (CSA) has brought South Africa into disrepute by dropping David Teeger as captain of the U19 Cricket World Cup squad. This is according to a press release issued on this week by the Free Speech Union of South Africa (FSU SA).
FSU SA, in a press release issued yesterday, says this action has drawn world-wide media attention, much of it detrimental to the image of the CSA.
The Palestinian Solidarity Alliance (PSA), a pro-Hamas pressure group, had complained to CSA claiming that a comment by Teeger was ‘clearly a provocative and inflamatory (sic) political statement’.
The CSA appointed Advocate Wim Trengove SC to conduct an independent investigation. He found that Teeger had not contravened CSA’s Code of Conduct.
He said: ‘The Constitutional Court has made the point that the right to freedom of expression does not protect hate speech, but emphasised that the expression of unpopular or even offensive beliefs does not constitute hate speech’.
The reason CSA leadership gave for demoting Teeger was that it was expecting protests at tournament venues. Demonstrations were likely to focus on Teeger at the risk of ‘conflict or even violence’.
Rapport reported that sources involved in making the threat assessment said that there is no information to suggest that the security threat at any game would be greater if Teeger retained his position.
The day after CSA’s decision, the PSA applied to hold a protest ahead of South Africa’s opening game.
Additionally, the Minister of Sport, Arts & Culture, Zizi Kodwa, had met with the the team early last week and ‘encouraged them to represent us well as they raise the country’s flag’.
Rapport says that this amounted to political interference: CSA asked Teeger, after the meeting with Kodwa, to voluntarily relinquish his captaincy, which he refused to do. The CSA Council, after meeting on Thursday, decided to relieve him of his captaincy.
South Africa is only hosting the tournament because Sri Lanka’s cricket board, the original host, was suspended by the ICC for failing to manage its affairs without government interference.
FSU SA calls for the reversal of the decision against Teeger and the resignation of Logan Naidoo, the chairman of the board of CSA.