Ali Bacher’s son, David, puts his foot in it

David Bacher, son of apartheid cricket boss, Ali Bacher, has slammed Cricket South Africa for canning David Teeger as captain of the national Under 19 team after he expressed support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Bacher, who is chief investment officer at Corion Capital, criticises CSA’s decision as part of a global market report the fund issued this week.

Speaking to BizNews’s Alec Hogg, Bacher said on Monday: “It’s a dangerous place for any corporate to speak out loudly in today’s times, but call us brave, call us stupid, we think it’s the right thing to do.”

Teeger also thought it was “the right thing to do” when he unleashed a fury of controversy shortly after that Israeli genocide in Gaza began on October 7.

He said after receiving the “Rising Star” award at the ABSA Jewish Achievers Awards: ““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.

He added: “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.”

Speaking to Hogg yesterday, Bacher thanked his Corion Capital partners “for allowing me to speak out by giving me a bit of rope to compile this report but we don’t think that there is any time that you should yield to the threat of violence”.

“What I’m focussing on is not the inquiry, not what David Teeger said. I’m focussing on the decisions that they’ve put out for his removal as captain which to us just doesn’t make sense …

“In what democratic world does an institution give in to individuals who threaten violence? That can’t be a reason to give in. Such actions pose significant dangers to our society. It undermines the rule of law, and suggests that outcomes can be reached by force and intimidation, rather than through the democratic process.

“So, once an institution shows that it will bend to violence, it sets an extremely dangerous precedent. And that’s what we depict in this slide of the video where threats of violence lead to the situation of Cricket South Africa rolling over, and that’s how we view it.”

Hogg and Bacher then discuss another slide included as part of the presentation to clients, that says “Cricket South Africa, Time To Show Some …” The clip then shows three cricket balls. On one, is written “Disclose your Board minutes”, the next, “Disclose the discussions with Politicians” and on the third, “Disclose the Security Report”.

When announcing Teeger’s removal as captain of the Under-19 team, CSA said it had received “regular security and risk updates regarding the World Cup” and that it had been “advised that protests related to the war in Gaza can be anticipated at the venues for the tournament.”

“We have also been advised that [mass actions] are likely to focus on the position of the SA Under-19 captain, David Teeger, and that there is a risk that they could result in conflict or even violence, including between rival groups of protestors.”

Citing a “primary duty to safeguard the interests and safety of all those involved,” CSA said that it “has decided that David should be relieved of the captaincy for the tournament. This is in the best interests of all the players, the SA U19 team and David himself.”

The statement made no reference to actual threats against Teeger; just that CSA’s advisors believed conflict or violence could arise.

Nazi Israel is regularly accused of painting itself as the victim when it is clearly the perpetrator and originator of most of the violence in occupied Palestine. Bacher appears to be speaking from the same rule book.

Yesterday, one of the “brave” Israeli soldiers Teeger idolises posted a pic of himself on X showing him torturing a naked and bloodied Palestinian man tied to a chair. Teeger’s heroes have become notorious on social media – before and after his statement – glorifying their genocidal actions.

They celebrate, they sing, they brag about killing pregnant women and children. And Tel Aviv is doing nothing to stop it, as it was ordered to do in the ICJ ruling last month.

Yet, Teeger believes he should be allowed to continue representing a country while standing directly in opposition to the country’s policies, statements and constitution and against common decency and public international law.

Israeli politicians are regularly calling for total genocide of all Gazans and have repeatedly called for ethnic cleansing while egging on ordinary Israelis to support the genocide and to stop food aid reaching the besieged Gaza enclave where nearly two million people are facing starvation amidst inhuman conditions, according to the UN.

It seems Hogg and Bacher have joined the chorus.

You can watch Hogg’s interview on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3bK86abJFA