In December minister of international relations & co-operation Ronald Lamola responded to a question posed by DA MP Emma Powell: “What is the government’s policy position on the treatment of women and girls in (a) Iran and (b) Afghanistan?”
His response to the Iran question (a) waffled around “bilateral and multilateral consultations” and “continue engaging with Iran bilaterally”.
Regarding (b), the reply was: “In the case of Afghanistan, SA has acknowledged the debilitating architecture of oppression and discrimination of the human rights of women and girls which impacts on their day-to-day lives and curtails opportunities for empowerment and development.
“SA has called on the international community to ensure that those responsible are held accountable. SA has on numerous occasions referred to the situation of women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan as cruel and inhumane.”
In September 2024, Cricket SA were asked about their “bilateral” relations with the Afghanistan Cricket Board. The Proteas — the men’s team, of course (the Taliban had done away with the Afghanistan women’s side in 2021) — were playing Afghanistan in a “bilateral” series in the UAE. Their statement bore a striking resemblance to the government’s shilly-shallying.
“CSA remains mindful that gender equity should never come at the expense of one gender over another.” A decent start. “CSA believes there is no justification for subjecting Afghan cricket players — both male and female — to secondary persecution for the actions of the Taliban. We will continue to engage with member countries within the formal structures of the International Cricket Council [ICC] to address this matter.”
What say the ICC?
“The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members.”
“Continue to engage”, “closely engaged”, “acknowledged”, “continues to collaborate” and “called on the international community” are all doublespeak for “not our problem, bub”.
The buck has been passed.
Which is what sports minister Gayton McKenzie did a week ago when he called for the Proteas to boycott matches against Afghanistan: “It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether SA should honour cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen.”
Not my problem bub.
He should take the time to read the column by Stuart Hess on BusinessLIVE on Thursday: “Perhaps McKenzie should knock on the door of his international relations counterpart Ronald Lamola and ask if SA has demanded that India uses its leverage to preach equality for women in Afghanistan. That would have a far greater effect than SA boycotting a cricket match.”
Mike Atherton, a former England captain, wrote in The Times that those politicians who have called on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to boycott Afghanistan cannot except cricket to clean up the mess they left behind in the country.
“In response, the ECB could have asked the political class to look in the mirror and reflect on the foreign affairs committee’s report on the American’s, the UK’s and its allies’ catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, and the abject political failure at that time, which paved the way for the rapid return of the Taliban, and the medieval policies towards women that have ensued.”
The Taliban’s treatment of women is barbaric. In 2024 they announced the resumption of public flogging and stoning of women to death for adultery. Around the same time, they also brought in new laws that stated “whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face and body”.
Women are also not allowed to look directly at males if they are not a blood relative or connected by marriage. Taxi drivers who give women who do not have a “suitable” male escort a ride will be punished.
Women are also banned from education, jobs, free movement and had critical healthcare stopped last year. Women cannot sing or speak inside their houses lest they be heard outside.
In January, the Taliban decided that windows could lead to bad things and so every new building must not have windows from which “the courtyard, kitchen, neighbour’s well and other places usually used by women” can be seen.
All the while, the SA government is calling on the international community, McKenzie is urging CSA, the CSA is waiting on the ICC to make a call and the ICC, now reduced to little more than an event management company than a governing body, is “engaging”.
This, as women are silenced, flogged and stoned.
It’s not our problem, bub.
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