Cape Town: South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has added his voice to the growing calls for a boycott of Afghanistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

His comments come after British politicians urged England to refuse to play Afghanistan next month, due to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since its return to power in August 2021. South Africa and England are in the same group as Afghanistan for the competition, and both teams are facing pressure to boycott their respective fixtures against Afghanistan. South Africa is scheduled to open their Champions Trophy campaign against Afghanistan in Karachi on February 21 as McKenzie has called on Cricket South Africa to reconsider honouring the fixture. McKenzie stated, “Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries, and the ICC [International Cricket Council] will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world, and especially to women in sports.” “It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honour cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan.

If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen,” he continued. He further added, “As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done towards women anywhere in the world.” The issue has gained significant attention, with Peter Hain, the former British cabinet minister and anti-apartheid campaigner who grew up in South Africa, writing to Cricket South Africa urging them to challenge the ban on women’s and girls’ cricket in Afghanistan. Australia, another nation scheduled to face Afghanistan, will play them in Lahore on February 26.