SA cricket in a very angry space, but this is the saddest thing of all
South African cricket is in a very sad and angry space at the moment, with the festering sores from years of poor leadership exploding in an awful throbbing spasm of pus and pain.
As ever in this country, the battle lines seem to have been drawn along racial lines and the prime targets of the baying mob are Whites in management positions. I can only describe it as being very sad when one of this country’s best administrators, someone who has shown more commitment to genuine transformation i.e. the type that changes lives; the Proteas’ greatest captain, who ushered in a new era of embracing diversity; and an icon of the game in this country; are singled out as the arch-racists and enemies of transformation, without any credible evidence being provided.
This week the Khaya Zondo/Dean Elgar selection controversy, dating back to an ODI in India in 2015, was brought up. AB de Viliers has been allotted all the blame, but what of the very vocal Hussein Manack, who was the selector on tour, and Ashwell Prince, also a national selector at the time? What of coach Russell Domingo? Why are they not expected to answer for what some people have portrayed as blatant discrimination?
There were good cricket reasons for the decision, and it would certainly be helpful for those men to explain them.
It is sadly typical of this country where accountability only seems to mean adding up the riches you have gained through corrupt means, that the voices given the biggest platforms have been those found guilty of the worst betrayal of the game – being involved in matchfixing.
I fully expect that MSW radio show (Does it stand for Matchfixers’ Sports Worldwide?) to follow up next week’s interviews with Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Alviro Petersen, after three episodes of Thami Tsolekile, with chats with Gulam Bodi, Saleem Malik, Mohammed Azharuddin and Mohammad Asif. The coup de grace, the scoop to end all scoops, might well be a séance with Hansie Cronje. Or maybe not, for the same reason that Jean Symes hasn’t been invited into studio yet.
But all this has not been the saddest thing I have heard in South African cricket this week.
My heart was well and truly broken when the Central Gauteng Lions, so often at the forefront of efforts to advance society, held the virtual launch of their campaign against gender-based violence. It was a sobering experience to listen to the terrible stories of abuse that were revealed by a Proteas Women cricketer and an administrator at the union. Their bravery was nothing short of inspirational.
The Proteas cricketer spoke about how she was suicidal at the age of seven after abuse from within her extended family left her with serious, and understandable, anger issues. Sport was an escape from what was happening at home for her.
The administrator revealed she was sexually abused as a child and was a witness to awful violence in the home, eventually leading to a mental breakdown.
“Men need to accept that they are doing this, we are not harming ourselves. Men need to talk amongst themselves, start having conversations about gender-based violence,” she said, which I think is very good advice indeed.
It would also be a very good idea, as mooted previously by former Proteas manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee, for cricket as a whole to have a Truth and Reconciliation process. It would be wonderful to hear from those Black cricketers who fought their way to the top, who are not embittered by the wrong choices they made in life or by the ruthless misfortune that accompanies elite sport, about the genuine barriers they had to overcome and whether those obstacles are still in place.
But, as Moosajee also pointed out, it has to be independently driven because Cricket South Africa have just about zero credibility at the moment.
There is so much talent in this country, but we all need to pull together for the common good, not narrow personal agendas, to ensure a much brighter cricketing future than what we are currently experiencing.