South Africa - Cricket
Politics played an important role in the re-admittance of South Africa to the international fold following nearly 25 years in the wilderness. The most controversial aspect of its presence had been targets for the numbers of black cricketers, introduced following the national board’s inability to treat the transformation of South African society seriously. Under apartheid, countless people of colour were denied the opportunity to compete at the highest level in sport. Despite this, many of them ran cricket leagues, boxing academies and soccer teams without any institutional support. They helped to inspire generations of people, and their legacy lives on.
No one understood the power of sport like Mandela. Mandela used sport to provide dignity and hope in the face of apartheid-sponsored oppression. He used sport to undermine discrimination with resistance, to heal and to help unite a society that the racial segregation of apartheid had brutally divided. Under Mandela’s guidance, sport became a confirmation of possibility in that he used sport to transform SA’s image, to bring South Africans together and he used sport as a way to heal South Africa from its past. It remains unequivocal that Mandela was a strong advocate of sports diplomacy who understood that sport was probably the best tool to connect him with people he would have otherwise hardly reached. The 1995 Rugby Cup, which brought the newly non-racial South Africa together for the first time, with Nelson Mandela rallying behind the Springbok, hence the world got to know about the phrase “Madiba Magic”.
Africans have played the sport for as long as whites have. The formation of the first clubs, competitions, leagues, and regional associations were at about the same time as for whites. By the 1890s the Eastern Cape, Kimberley, and Cape Town had become strongholds for black cricket, and the modern Free State, Natal, Basutoland (Lesotho), and Bulawayo in Rhodesia had witnessed it being played. Occasional contests took place against white sides, though inter-racial matches were irregular and when held usually commemorated occasions such as Christmas Day and Empire Day.
On the chilly morning of Thursday the 27th of June 1956, which came to be known as the Black Thursday, the Apartheid Sports plan was put into effect by the then Apartheid government when they spelled out the policies of alignment of sports with the national laws of Apartheid. Race became a standard unit of measurement in both pubic and private life. Young children were also denied the opportunity to play together and sports development in South Africa took on a racial line. Cricket and rugby were designated “white sport”, whereas football was designated as “black sport” and this included the manner in which resources were allocated to the various sporting codes.
The African National Congress and other progressive forces called for a sport boycott against South Africa. We launched a successful campaign called “No normal sport in an abnormal country”. This campaign was aimed at using sport to highlight the injustices of apartheid and race policies in South Africa. The boycott was well supported by the international community. In 1970, the ICC voted to suspend South Africa from international cricket indefinitely because of its government's policy of apartheid, an overtly racist policy, which led them to play only against the white nations (England, Australia, New Zealand), and field only white players. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Procter from partaking in international Test Cricket. It would also cause the emigration of future stars like Allan Lamb and Robin Smith, who both played for England, and Kepler Wessels, who initially played for Australia, before returning to South Africa.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in 1991 after the deconstruction of apartheid, and the team played its first sanctioned match since 1970 (and its first ever One-Day International) against India in Calcutta on 10 November 1991. South Africa's first test match after re-admission was against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs.
On 7 July 2002 the United Cricket Board of South Africa ("UCB"), at its National Consolidation Conference held at Kievits Kroon, resolved to scrap transformation quotas at the level of national teams and senior provincial sides. The term "quotas" had generally been used to refer to the transformation targets which the UCB set for itself during May 1999. These transformation targets are set out in a document titled "Blueprint for the Implementation of Development Targets as agreed upon at the Development Conference held at the Riverside Sun, Vanderbijlpark, on 28 & 29 May 1999". Transformation quotas at the level of national teams and senior provincial sides were abolished. Selection for these teams would henceforth be based purely on merit. At the level of B Teams and teams below that level quotas have been replaced by two "guidelines", viz: All provincial B teams and teams below this level should contain at least 50% players of colour; These teams should contain at least one Black African player.
On 4 November 2011 the former Minister of the Department of Sport and Recreation announced the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry to conduct an investigation into the affairs of Cricket SA, chaired by the retired Judge Christopher Robert Nicholson. On 18 May 2012, the democratic government of SA approved an official government policy intended to redress the legacy left by apartheid in sports. The National Sport and Recreation Plan was the blueprint to redress the legacy of the 1956 Apartheid Sports Plan and a vision to take us to future of equitable participation and inclusiveness in sport.
Cricket SA failed to comply with the Minister' directive so far the recommendations outlined in the Judge Nicholson Report. The department of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, on 26 October 2020, received a formal report confirming the resignation of the entire board of Cricket South Africa (CSA). Minister Nathi Mthethwa on May 14, 2021 commended Cricket South Africa’s Interim Board and Member’s Council on their historic agreement to transform cricket. His remarks came after a protracted stand-off with Cricket SA over their refusal to transform, which led to his decision to deregister and defund the federation – a decision he later withdrew.
Transformation is a national strategic imperative in the country and it is a fundamental tenet in the vision and strategy of Cricket South Africa NPC (CSA). CSA, then United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA), established its first Transformation Monitoring Committee at a special conference at the Southern Sun Hotel, OR Tambo International in 1998. This Committee utilised the Ten Thrusts for Transformation documented in the UCBSA National Transformation Charter to monitor the progress and report back to the Board of UCBSA. It initially operated under the name of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) which came into being on 29 June 1991, following completion of the unity process between the South African Cricket Union (SACU) and the South African Cricket Board (SACB). CSA was formed in 2002 and ran parallel to UCB, with the UCB responsible for the administration of amateur cricket and CSA responsible for professional cricket. As a result of changes in the tax laws, UCB was amalgamated into CSA in 2008.
The Cricket South Africa Board Chair and two directors met with the men’s Proteas team and management 28 October 2021 to discuss the Board’s directive regarding “taking the knee”. The Board representatives clarified the Board position and engaged with the issues raised by the players. Following the meeting, the Proteas men’s team agreed to align and unify in taking the knee for the remaining fixtures of the World Cup campaign. CSA has also noted the statement issued by Quinton de Kock in which he too agreed to take the knee and issued an apology. Cricket South Africa welcomes all of these developments. They confirm Cricket South Africa’s commitment to non-racism. Taking a united stance against racism is a moral issue, not a political issue. The CSA Board regrets that the timing of its directive earlier this week may have been unsettling for the players in the lead-up to the match against the West Indies.
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