Something has changed since Teeger was CSA’s under-19 captain of choice just weeks ago, and it’s not his Jewishness.
Telford Vice / Cape Town
DAVID Teeger was born Jewish. He was Jewish when he first passed through the gates of King Edward VII School (KES) in Johannesburg, where prominent Jews like Ali Bacher, Ronnie Kasrils and Richard Goldstone have also walked. He was Jewish when he was named KES’ head boy and captain of the first XI.
Teeger was Jewish when his non-Jewish KES teammates walked with him from his home to cricket matches on a Saturday, when he was keeping Shabbat. He was Jewish when he made his debut for South Africa’s men’s under-19 cricket team — as the captain — in Bangladesh in July last year.
He was Jewish on November 10, when CSA’s under-19 structures decided he should keep the leadership for the coming World Cup, which starts on Friday. He was Jewish when CSA said the same thing on December 8, when the final squad for the tournament was named with him as captain. And he was Jewish last Friday, when the same CSA stripped him of the privilege of leadership citing security concerns. Few believe that is the real reason.
Teeger is, as he has always been and likely always will be, Jewish. South African cricket has known this for as long as he has been part of the game. Just like they know his father, James Teeger, who played seven first-class matches for the team now called Gauteng — then Transvaal — is Jewish.
Yet CSA have been accused of antisemitism for taking the under-19 captaincy away from Teeger, of demoting him “because he is a Jew”. Did CSA also appoint him “because he is a Jew”? Of course not. Could they have, by not making him captain “because he is a Jew”, averted the bother they have caused? Of course, and that would have been antisemitic to a degree obvious to semites and non-semites alike. Is what has happened an act of antisemitism? As is the case in all other accusations of racism — and antisemitism is this cancer’s most ancient form — the victims are the only legitimate arbiters of the question.
Clearly, something has changed since Teeger was CSA’s under-19 captain of choice just weeks ago. Was the switch flicked by Teeger’s decision — his alone — to express a view that millions worldwide would find abhorrent, especially coming from one so young? If you decline to take seriously CSA’s vague and unsubstantiated explanation, was he sacked because of what he said he believed?
CSA have denied that Teeger’s comments led to his axing. To believe that assertion you would also need to believe their claim about security concerns, which they have yet to turn into something close to believable. If you’ve had to put up with CSA, particularly their board, for long enough, you would be forgiven for lumping this saga on the heap of their other disasters.
Yes, Teeger has freedom of speech. He also has a responsibility to countenance the consequences of exercising that freedom. That he should punch down on people who are defenceless and under extreme attack will strike many as despicable. Yes, he was just 18 when he made his feelings known. Most of us who have seen 30 would shudder if our 18-year-old views came back to haunt us. But most of us have not been entrusted with a duty of care at the same level as Teeger.
What did Teeger say? This, at a ceremony where he accepted a Rising Star award at a Jewish Achiever Awards function in Johannesburg on October 22: “But more importantly, yes, I’ve been awarded this award, and yes, I am now the rising star, but the true rising stars are the young soldiers in Israel … So I’d like to dedicate this award to the South African family that married off one son whilst the other is still missing. And I’d like to dedicate it to the state of Israel and to every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora.”
When Teeger spoke, Israel had slaughtered 4,651 Palestinians in Gaza in bloody vengeance for the 1,139 Israelis murdered by Hamas during a cowardly terrorist attack on October 7. More than 200 were taken hostage, many of whom have been brutally raped and mutilated. Teeger didn’t deplore the overall violence. He picked a side; the wrong side in the view of the legions of all creeds and cultures who consider the Israel Defence Force an occupying force doing the bidding of a dangerous regime.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s feared and loathed right wing government have pushed Israel so close to the edge of civilisation that South Africa have brought a case of genocide against them at the UN’s International Court of Justice. South Africans didn’t need their government’s prompting to be disgusted by Israel’s behaviour, but many have been heartened by this rare bolt of integrity from their leaders.
In that context, Teeger’s words can only have had a disastrous impact on his perceived ability to lead people from different backgrounds. As Zizi Kodwa, South Africa’s minister of sport, rightly told the squad on Friday after Teeger learnt of his axing: “Whatever you do now, you are no longer yourselves. You are ambassadors for South Africa.” How could Teeger, considering what he had said, be considered fit to captain?
Did Teeger say what he said because he is Jewish? No. Kasrils, a stalwart of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, would not have agreed with him. On November 28, at a meeting in Johannesburg to finalise plans on the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Kasrils described Hamas’ massacre, in which the elderly were gunned down as they waited at bus-stops and homes were set on fire because they were occupied, as “a brilliant, spectacular guerrilla warfare attack. They swept on them and they killed them and damn good. I was so pleased and people who support resistance applauded.”
In September 1992 Kasrils was among the leaders of a protest in the Eastern Cape at which 28 were shot dead by soldiers. A judicial commission found that Kasrils’ reckless decision-making was instrumental in the catastrophe. The judge who led the probe was Kasrils’ KES contemporary: Goldstone.
Formerly a judge on South Africa’s highest court, Goldstone would also likely not be of the same mind as Teeger. In his report for the UN on three weeks of violence in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 during which more than 1,430 were killed, Goldstone accused both sides of targeting civilians and of possibly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a piece for the Washington Post published in April 2011, Goldstone wrote: “If I had known then what I know now the Goldstone report would have been a very different document.” But he stood by his report.
Wim Trengove, a renowned barrister, was given a less taxing brief than Goldstone when CSA — having received formal complaints, not all of them from Muslims — asked him to decide whether what Teeger said breached their code of conduct. CSA revealed Trengove’s report on December 7. It didn’t say Teeger had “been cleared of all wrongdoing”, as has been reported. It did say he had not violated the code of conduct. The next day, CSA named the under-19 World Cup squad. Teeger’s name was at the top of the list as captain.
And that despite, in his responding affidavit to Trengove, Teeger apparently not understanding why he had angered enough South Africans to justify an investigation: “It was therefore hurtful to read that my personal reflection on 22 October 2023 of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack has been equated to supporting genocide or condoning hatred based on race, ethnicity or religion.
“Judging the conduct of the different sides during this war is a highly contested and complex matter with strongly held views on both sides. My personal and honestly held view is that Israel and its soldiers have not committed genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. In addition, this view is held by many people and democratic governments around the world, like the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia and many countries in the European Union. Thus, my statements were not in support of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity because in my view Israel is innocent of all these allegations.
“On the other hand, I accept that many people and governments, including the South African government, hold an opposing view. Disagreeing in a respectful manner on a contested and emotionally charged matter is a fundamental pillar of our democracy and Constitution. I respect the right of others to disagree with my view on Israel.”
There is no acknowledgement in those words that perhaps he got this wrong, no attempt to learn, no recognition that he should be relieved he wasn’t booted out of the squad. By Tuesday, the Gaza death toll, which was already climbing when Teeger originally spoke, soared past 24,000. And still he has said nothing, publicly, that might make us think he has empathy. He’s only 19 — his birthday was the day before he discovered he had been sacked — but how old do you have to be to say you feel for your fellow humans?
CSA would have been within their rights to relieve Teeger of the captaincy immediately they became aware of his October 22 comments. Nobody, as Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar would attest, has a lock on the leadership of South Africa’s teams. That logic wasn’t apparent during a South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) press conference on Tuesday, which followed a SAJBD meeting with CSA. The presser was billed as an opportunity to “discuss [CSA’s] decision to strip … Teeger of his captaincy”. His captaincy? There is no such thing. The leadership of all teams under CSA’s aegis is theirs, and theirs alone, to bestow and remove as they see fit.
Teeger isn’t exempt because he is Jewish, just as he shouldn’t be sacked because he is Jewish. Tuesday’s presser offered no evidence of the latter. It snowballed into bombast about political interference, bald accusations of antisemitism wielded like weaponry, and shrill threats of further action. It took us no closer to the truth. Instead it veered into hubris: you might have thought Teeger was the next Donald Bradman, not someone who has played only eight 50-over games for South Africa’s under-19 team and passed 50 just once.
The truth will only be known if CSA explain why they retained Teeger even after what he told Trengove. The vacuum left by their failure to lead has been filled by fuel for a fire. It could burn long after the under-19 World Cup.
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