The SA Jewish Board of Deputies bemoaned a “lack of clarity” after meeting with CSA on Tuesday to discuss the David Teeger matter.
The 19-year-old was last week removed as SA U19 captain by CSA ahead of the U19 World Cup in South Africa for safety and security reasons, relating to pro-Israel comments he made when receiving the Rising Star of the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards.
“It was like some flippant briefing. There wasn’t even a document and I think that really shocked us,” SAJBD national director Wendy Kahn told News24.
“When we kept on probing, they kept on changing the story and telling us different things. They first said they were trying to protect David, then they said [they were trying to protect] the team.
“Then they said they wanted to protect the spectators and they finally said the schools could come [to the games], where there could be a possibility that a child gets hit by a rubber bullet and dies.
“If that’s the level of the security understanding, then it speaks to a lack of clarity in terms of what the issue is, and to make such a big decision with ramifications around discrimination without proper security analysis is extremely disturbing.
“There were no specifics or a specific threat that was identified.”
SAJBD president Zev Krengel said he hoped the ICC would intervene.
“If the ICC does nothing about this and [after] what we’ve been through in this meeting, it will be a black mark on the ICC,” Krengel said.
“It’s the same as the International Olympic Committee who have a black mark for allowing Nazi Germany to have the 1936 Olympics.
“If CSA can’t do the minimum in reinstating Teeger, the ICC can understand that this is the highest form of discrimination and step in to find out the root cause of the issue.
“The ICC also sees no security threat and it’s up to the ICC to ensure that David is reinstated as captain.
“If they can disagree with his views, that’s fine, but we’re extremely disappointed that they can’t stand by their player.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
