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A complaint about alleged government interference in South African cricket was sent to the ICC, after Cricket South Africa confirmed that it will adopt an affirmative action policy in the appointment of consultants. The complaint was submitted by the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR), a 91-year-old research and policy organization, and includes six proposals for cricket in the country, including eliminating the national team’s racial quotas and the administration of the CSA completely.
The ICC has not yet received the letter from the IRR.
While the IRR acknowledges that “the legacy of apartheid casts a long shadow” on sport in South Africa, it has accused CSA of “years of mismanagement and political and government interference”, which it claims has caused South Africa to become deviates from ICC values. The IRR charter lists those values as fairness and integrity, excellence, responsibility, teamwork, respect for diversity, and a commitment to the global game and its great spirit.
“Justice has given way to ideological agendas, integrity to political opportunism and manipulation,” the letter reads. “Excellence has been compromised by placing sporting achievements second to political decision-making. Lack of accountability has meant that allegations of embezzlement have not been addressed, while these issues have been allowed to subside. escalate to a point where blatant racism is now CSA policy, ending any ambition to respect diversity. Taken together, these failures have diminished the spirit of the game of cricket and tarnished the image of the sport. “
The letter further states that CSA has violated the ICC’s Anti-Discrimination Policy for International Cricket, and refers to the ban imposed on South Africa during the Apartheid era for its racially discriminatory selection criteria. Under white minority rule, which ended in 1994, South Africa’s national teams only included ranked white players and only played against other white players. The most prominent example of this was Prime Minister John Vorster’s opposition to Basil d’Oliveria (a colored South African player who qualified for England) traveling to play in South Africa. The incident played a major role in South Africa’s isolation from international sport, which ran from 1970 to 1991. The IRR warned that South Africa could now face a similar fate. “The increasingly troubling actions of CSA once again risk turning South Africa into a racial pariah,” the letter read.
While the ICC constitution prohibits government interference, the way interference is interpreted and members are penalized is not so straightforward. Zimbabwe was most recently suspended for government interference, for example. But the presence of the head of state as patron of the board has never been a problem in Pakistan, where currently Imran Khan, the former captain and now prime minister, has effectively overhauled the structure of national cricket. Meanwhile, the BCCI has admitted that India will only play Pakistan if the Indian government grants them permission.
In the case of South Africa, the racial makeup of teams has always been dictated, in part, by government policy. In the Apartheid era, the national team was completely white and William Milton, who was South Africa’s second test captain and head of the prime minister’s office, blocked Krom Hendricks’ game. After reinstatement, a quota system was introduced in 1999, requiring the national team to field four players of color in an XI. Over the years, that system has been modified and now national teams must include a minimum of six colored players, including three black Africans each time they take the field, while national teams must feature six colored players with a minimum of two black African players. on average over the course of a season.
Despite CSA meeting those goals, in recent months it has come under fire from Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who was unhappy with the number of white men in positions of power. In December, CSA suspended former CEO Thabang Moreo, who is black African, and appointed Jacques Faul, who is white, as an actor (Faul has since resigned and was replaced by Kugandrie Govender, a woman of Indian descent) and hired Graeme Smith. as a cricket director. Smith appointed Mark Boucher as the head coach of the men’s team and Enoch Nkwe, a black African who had been acting manager of the team, as Boucher’s assistant. She also had Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris (both white) as temporary advisers for the season, while she gave Charl Langeveldt and Justin Ontong (both colored) permanent positions as bowling and field coach, respectively.
The presence of Boucher and Kallis was perceived as reuniting the clique that former opening hitter Herschelle Gibbs once said ran the national team and has drawn widespread criticism from former players of color in light of the Black Lives Movement that has spread across the country. South Africa. Cricket. Earlier this week, CSA resolved to enforce a policy of preference of candidates of color for consulting positions, and while Govender said the new approach is not set in stone, the IRR has called CSA’s actions “detrimental to the search. headquarters of the ICC “.
The IRR has called for an end to racial quotas and has asked the government to fund and secure sports infrastructure in public schools, the private sector, and communities to aid grassroots development, calling for “the powers of politicians and government officials at the national and provincial levels to interfere in sport at all levels should be drastically reduced, and the government should focus on providing funds on the basis of sporting merit and achievement. “
CSA will continue to consult with the Sports Ministry as it seeks to reschedule its AGM, which was postponed to this Saturday.
