Ken Borland

Attempting to transform South African cricket and develop the game such that it is equally accessible for everyone in this country has gobbled up hundreds of millions of rand every year and it is money cash-strapped Cricket South Africa can ill afford to spend without any return on their considerable investment.

Which is why it is so important that the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) project they launched on Friday is not just an attempt to redress the considerable wrongs of the past, worthy as that objective is, but that it is also forward-looking and can ensure that the struggles their current ambassadors such as Geoff Toyana, Makhaya Ntini, Marcia Letsoalo, Dinesha Devnarain, Nolubabalo Ndzundzu and Shandre Fritz had to endure do not continue further into the decade. CSA are dogged by so many issues that the last thing they want is for their transformation record to once again be in the spotlight in five years time.

I know from conversations with director of cricket Graeme Smith that ensuring there is a return on all the money they spend on development pipelines is an issue that consumes him and he has immersed himself since his appointment in December in trying to find solutions.

But the best plans in the world are not going to feed a single child from a township or rural area into the pipeline unless they are backed by concrete action. I get the feeling that CSA is an organisation replete with theories but is slow on responsiveness and sometimes mindsets and hearts have to genuinely change.

This was brought back to me by an incident that occurred during one of the key parts of the SJN launch at Olympic House in Melrose on Friday. The ambassadors for the project that were present were called up to receive their certificates. But the programme director forgot to call up Letsoalo, who represented the Proteas 118 times and came through the Limpopo and Atteridgeville development systems. Mistakes obviously happen, but when the oversight was pointed out, the MC only made matters worse by saying “Marcia now you know why you were 12^th man so often” and then rather patronisingly referring to a great catch the fine bowler had taken some years previously. The fact that this came from the person who is the head of transformation in CSA just makes it so much worse.

So an impressive launch and engagements with parties who were hurt in the past are all good and well, but CSA need to ensure that SJN is not just another well-meaning project that will look good in their reports to parliament and help to get the sports minister off their back. They cannot afford – both literally in terms of finances but also when it comes to their credibility – for it to not follow through with concrete action.

It is encouraging that they have a collection of ambassadors who are real ‘salt-of-the-earth’ types with strong community ties and that the ombudsman who will head up the project – Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza – is obviously a very wise and experienced person. I would have liked to have seen more Coloured representation, for instance Vernon Philander, who is passionate about his community and has devoted tremendous energy into uplifting their cricket now that his great Proteas career is over.

I hear that some former players turned down the request to be ambassadors. That is unfortunate but is an indication of the work the CSA Board need to do to restore their credibility. SJN is, after all, their baby, and even though Ntsebeza is an independent, strong voice, what powers does he really have? He can still only make recommendations to the Board when it comes to action.

That would be the same CSA Board that is so in love with power and status and their little cabal assignations in hotel corridors and corners. Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa addressed Friday’s launch via a virtual link and gave the CSA Board two very good pieces of advice: Make public the forensic report into fired CEO Thabang Moroe and ensure that fresh leadership is voted in at the AGM on September 5.

Current acting president Beresford Williams, who is standing for the permanent job, sat stony-faced when the minister spoke these words, but it is difficult to have sympathy for a man who staunchly defended both Moroe and the previous president, Chris Nenzani, even when it was clear they were leading CSA into the current shambles. Cricket South Africa desperately needs people of action who will put the interests of the game first.