Stand up for yourself!

The fact that Cricket South Africa is being called to account about how and why it demoted David Teeger is great news. And it’s news we’re excited to tell you.

Too often, people are allowed to ride roughshod over youngsters or people they believe to be less than them, more vulnerable or weaker, and they are never held to account. In South Africa, it happens way too often because legal battles are expensive and take a long time to reach a final verdict.

As a country, we’re so used to being treated badly and accepting it. When we don’t have electricity because of loadshedding, we complain and complain, and then we accept it, making the best of a bad situation. The same goes for potholes and water problems. None of these issues should be acceptable to South African citizens especially because they are essentially related to human rights, right?

A colleague of mine is lucky to be alive this week after she was driving in a dark area – obviously no streetlights – and went over a huge pothole that destroyed her wheel. Being a woman driving alone late at night in an unfamiliar area, she kept going until she managed to get to a petrol station. Her wheel was totally destroyed, but she’s fortunately around to tell the story.

Potholes like these aren’t acceptable, nor is the absence of streetlights, but we live with it. And insurance companies have made sure that we cannot claim for pothole damage, issues related to loadshedding, etcetera. I understand why – they wouldn’t survive all the claims. However, we accept this as normal. We do so because fighting against it is almost like spitting against the wind.

And so, the news of a small non-governmental organisation taking on Cricket SA, which clearly thought this nightmare would die a quiet death, is great news. This story hasn’t ended, and won’t be left to quietly disappear. Hopefully, when it does come to an end, justice will be seen to be done, and those who wronged this young man in his cricketing prime will be forced to apologise properly and fix the harm they have caused. They will also have to deal with their blatant antisemitism.

It’s astonishing that all this began at the last Absa Jewish Achiever Awards, when Teeger won the inaugural Rising Star Award. And we’re already in the throes of nominating for the 2024 event.

Teeger’s acceptance speech was undoubtedly, to my mind, the best speech of the night. It was 100% impromptu because this humble young man didn’t believe he stood a chance against the other nominees.

When he stood up to accept his award, any doubt about his leadership qualities, widespread talent, and humanitarian backbone went out the window. Only, by honouring the young Israel Defense Forces soldiers who had recently gone into Gaza to defend their country, he raised the ire of our haters in South Africa. It didn’t take long for them to push Cricket SA to demote this phenomenal Under-19 team captain with the most ridiculous excuses for doing so.

Truth is, none of this is news, but fortunately, the cudgels of this battle have been taken up again, as they should be. I’m thrilled that Cricket SA and our haters won’t be allowed to walk all over Teeger or the South African Jewish community. They will have to cough up all the details, or find themselves in court.

It’s hard to believe that when the demand for information and proof of its reasons for demoting Teeger was made, this sporting body, which one assumed was above board, ignored it. Again, it was hoping it would just go away if it ignored it long enough. Wrong!

This is a lesson for all of us not to take things lying down. Not to allow people to walk all over us. Not to accept the unacceptable. Life does throw curve balls along our paths. In most cases, they come out of the blue, and we don’t immediately know what to make of them.

These unexpected issues can and do make us anxious because they are often complicated to deal with and often they require going against the grain. Often, they require standing up for yourself or someone else. It’s never easy go up against a more powerful body than yourself, even if you were legitimately wronged.

In this case, Teeger himself hasn’t taken up the cudgels, but others who feel what was done to him was unconscionable and pure antisemitism have taken up the fight.

We don’t always have others to fight our battles. And in most cases, getting legal representation is expensive. One always has to weigh up whether the expense is worthwhile or whether one needs to find another route to deal with a tough situation.

Suffice to say, weighing up the odds and finding the best way forward is easier said than done, but do it we must when faced with blockades in our path.

As Jewish South Africans, it’s not always easy to stand up against those who have made us their enemy. I’ve certainly lost “friends” in the process of standing up for what I believe to be right. So be it!

However, we dare not sit back and let people ride roughshod over our rights. We have to stand up and be counted. What I’ve noticed, though, in the past nine months since 7 October, is that the community has mostly grown closer and is more united. This is a great thing. It enables us to stand together in the face of those who challenge us unnecessarily and unfairly.

We don’t have to cower. We have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. As that great Israeli saying goes that has become so popular there, “Beyachad nenatzeach!” (Together, we will prevail.)

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor