Ken Borland

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.

While a lengthy labour court battle lies in store for former CEO Thabang Moroe, the Cricket South Africa Board have more battles to fight this week after a group calling themselves Cricket United 2020 demanded that they consult them in any transformation policies and the Social Justice Network mechanism set up recently.

Cricket United 2020 is made up of the 40 black former Proteas cricketers and senior coaches who held a meeting with the CSA Board at the end of last month, but they released a statement on Wednesday night asking CSA to adhere to their agreement from that meeting to properly engage with the concerned Black stakeholders.

“We request that CSA adhere to the commitment to allow engagement and consultation with us and the relevant decision makers at CSA, namely the Board, CEO, Director of Cricket and relevant Proteas team management within the next 7 days. We are not here to break the system, it is already broken. Subsequently, following the process outlined by that commitment by the president and board we were alerted that the Transformation Policy had been signed off by the Board without any consultation with relevant coaches, ex-players, current players and other roleplayers,” the statement read.

Unfortunately CSA were in no place to respond publicly to Cricket United 2020 on Thursday because the Board was embroiled in an all-day meeting to decide the fate of Moroe, who was suspended last December. The former CEO was supposed to present his case to the Board on Thursday but it seems unlikely he bothered because he had instructed lawyers to prepare an indictment the night before to stop the board meeting.

It seems likely that the Board will dismiss Moroe, who will then take his case to the CCMA and ultimately labour court. But CSA have shown they are quite prepared to spend thousands dragging these matters through litigation until the complainant’s money runs out. It will also give them a handy excuse to delay making the forensic audit public, because many believe they are implicated in Moroe’s wrongdoing as well.

The one statement that did emerge on Thursday came from Director of Cricket Graeme Smith, who responded to allegations of racism made against him when he was the Proteas captain from 2002/3 to 2013/14.

“I should emphasise that I was never in charge of selections. I had an opinion as the captain, but the casting vote was with the coach and the selectors. In the case of the 2012 tour to England, which Thami Tsolekile has alluded to, there was a whole panel of selectors. Thami was in the squad as reserve ‘keeper and this was communicated to him on both the England and Australia tours by Gary Kirsten.

“It was international sport and there were some very tough decisions made. Decisions which I have been on the undesired side of myself. I was left out on the brink of the 2003 World Cup, having played the whole year before that; I was left out of a Test team and Ashwell Prince flown up to play ahead of me. I felt I still had more to give in ODI cricket when I was dropped. It hurt, but I had to knuckle down and accept it.

“Over time, I have grown to understand that it was the right call for the team. And that has always been the crux of the decisions made in my time, they were the best for the team. I have tried my level best to explain the decisions that I have made in my time as captain and I am happy to engage in discussions in the right forum, even if it is uncomfortable because I think we can only learn from our past,” Smith said.

One of the key features to come out of the discussions around racism in cricket has been the acknowledgement that it has to be okay for stakeholders who feel discriminated against or marginalised to speak out. Without that freedom, the status quo merely continues and we won’t know that the system is broken until there is something akin to an explosion of anger.

And there are certainly a lot of angry people in the cricket community at the moment, many with good reason because the leadership of the game has failed them so thoroughly. Many people are thoroughly disgruntled by how mediocre the returns have been after millions of rand have been spent on transformation over more than 20 years.

It is not okay, however, for people to spread division, blatant lies or push agendas designed to further the interests of only a select few. Unfortunately many of those divisive voices have been given prominence in the last few weeks.

The troubles in South African cricket seem to have given birth to an extreme version of Africanism that threatens to shut everyone else out of the game.

We now have a situation where White members of CSA management, specifically acting CEO Jacques Faul, director of cricket Graeme Smith and head coach Mark Boucher, are being pilloried, not for anything they have or have not done, but simply because they are White. No matter how often they express their support for BLM or for transformation, some people simply cannot get past their skin colour.

The corollary of this is the perception that Black Africans should not be held accountable for their actions. Suddenly suspended CEO Thabang Moroe, who left the game in such crisis last December that Faul and Smith had to be parachuted in, is the darling of certain sections of the media, who are pushing for his return. The irony that they are supporting someone who nine months ago took away the accreditation of journalists who were critical of him is totally lost on them. Are they are in favour of media freedom or do they support someone who has also looked to destroy the players’ trade union – the South African Cricketers Association?

Convicted matchfixers Thami Tsolekile and Ethy Mbhalati have also been given platforms that are far too exalted for the manner in which they betrayed the game. Tsolekile in particular spouted forth on a well-known radio talk show – with very little counter-interrogation – on how the whole matchfixing investigation of the 2015 T20 competition targeted Black players. He and his host conveniently failed to mention that the entire process was presided over by Bernard Ngoepe, one of the country’s most respected judges. Are they saying he is racist? Sounds like the typical protestations of the criminally guilty to me.

Equally appallingly, Tsolekile accused and named two White players of being involved in matchfixing without a shred of evidence. Their rights have been trampled on and I expect them to go to the courts to protect their names. CSA have subsequently released a statement saying the one player was one of their star witnesses because he immediately reported a corrupt approach and the other was just a name bandied about by arch-conspirator Gulam Bodi in order to get other people involved. They were both thoroughly investigated, by the ICC as well, and totally exonerated.

Even the legendary Makhaya Ntini seems to have been allowed to get away with a one-sided narrative. I’m sure in the early years of his international career there were days when he felt isolated and alone. But he has been unfair in his criticism of Cricket South Africa.

If it weren’t for Ali Bacher personally getting involved and organising proper legal representation for him, Ntini would have spent several years languishing in jail after being incorrectly found guilty of rape, and Proteas manager and team doctor Mohammed Moosajee has revealed the felicitations the great fast bowler received from CSA at the end of his career.

“What Makhaya said I think surprised every one of us because he was a beacon for every youngster. He was in the team with me for the last 8 years of his career and I never noticed him sitting alone. Many players ran from the ground back to the hotel. Many times when we went out to dinner, we would stick to our own, but there were also many other times when we would join the other guys.

“Even when his contract ended, he was paid an extra year of salary which had never happened before, and he was given a special benefit game at Moses Mabhida Stadium. He played his last game for South Africa in January 2011 and his CSA contract continued through to the next April and then he received another year after that,” Moosajee told an Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket recently.

“I did not see him on his own, he always had other players around him, but we need to unpack the way he felt, we need like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for cricket. I’m sure he felt isolated when he first came into the team because he was in the minority, international sport is very difficult and you feel nervous about where you fit in. It was probably the same for Hashim Amla, but once the colour of the team and the administration changed then a lot of that went away,” Moosajee added.

Doc Moosajee, who has been a great servant of the game, went on to slam those for whom power in cricket is like an aphrodisiac.

“It’s important to remember that a number of communities contributed to the struggle but unfortunately some selfish administrators are looking to create divisions now. We need to move away from the idea that you need to be Black African to have a role in transformation; all communities, including Whites, have a role. Driving only an Africanist agenda has become divisive.

“We can’t continue to pay lip-service to transformation after 26 years, we need tangible action. In terms of Affirmative Action, the question we need to ask is whether the policies have benefited us or promoted racism? There is no doubt it has become polarised. Grassroots is where the issue is and there’s no doubt that has not been addressed. The numbers game has created challenges,” Moosajee said.

Long-serving Proteas manager and doctor Mohammed Moosajee remembers being made to bat in fading light at Transvaal nets in the early days of unity and he says such biases still exist in South African cricket, calling for a sporting version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help the healing process.

Moosajee was a fine cricketer who captained the South African Cricket Board version of the SA Schools side and was 23 years old when Unity happened. And yet he never added to his seven first-class caps when the new dispensation arrived.

“In 1992 when Unity happened, I was in the prime of my career and part of Transvaal training. But us guys from the SACB clubs only got to bat once the light was going down and there’s no doubt we had to work much harder because there was inherent bias. I felt we maybe came back into international cricket too easily, we sacrificed too much to appease the politicians.

“We must understand that prejudice is still very much part and parcel of our country, some still remains and we can’t just wish it away. There is no trust nor healing in cricket and we desperately need our own TRC because cricket is just a microcosm and reflection of a racist society. And our coaches also need to be given a platform because they are the ones who need to foster Black excellence,” Moosajee said at a recent Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket.

Moosajee, who is now serving on the South African Cricketers’ Association management board, was adamant, however, that the Cricket South Africa Board should not be allowed to get their grubby little mitts on the TRC process.

“I am encouraged by the Cricket for Social Justice programme but we mustn’t forget it was set up by the same CSA who have had a litany of governance issues, if you are having continuous problems in the boardroom then it will impact on the delivery of transformation. So what credibility do CSA have? I will support it if it is run independently and not by CSA, if there is to be any credibility then the current Board cannot be involved.

“The most important stakeholders in coming up with solutions are the players and CSA must ask themselves why a few months ago they were in court fighting against their own players? There are people on that Board lining their pockets with directors’ fees and not taking into account proper corporate governance. Who will police the police? The Board cannot judge themselves,” Moosajee said.

The longest-serving member of the Proteas staff (from 2003 to the end of last year’s World Cup) said South African cricket has nevertheless come a far way from those early days of unity.

“In 2003 when I was appointed team doctor some of the squad members were uncomfortable not having a White doctor, but it did not bother me at all because they had no choice but to develop that trust. And in my early days as manager – it happened overseas as well, specifically in England and Australia – officials would try and bypass me and go directly to the coach.

“But after our first culture camp in 2010 we developed an authentic, emotional identity because we considered our fractured past, our history and our diversity. We wanted to use the fact we were the most diverse team in the world as an advantage and it was no surprise in 2012 when we became the first team to be ranked number one across all formats,” Moosajee explained.

Part of that process has been educating people that some of their simplistic views needed to evolve from bigotry to tolerance.

“When we would go to India and people were called “Chillipips”, they needed to be educated; when we went to Bangladesh and the call-to-prayer happened and guys would ask why they are screaming, they needed to be educated, and that’s what we tried to do from 2010 onwards. Culture is probably the most misunderstood part of any organisation but it can be the deciding factor in success or failure.

“But we also need to be honest. With a number of coaches and selectors, the challenge is an unconscious bias, but CSA also needed to stand up and take responsibility for things like the 2015 World Cup and four players of colour, because they left a lot to interpretation. Players of colour continue to feel unsupported and we need to applaud someone like Lungi Ngidi, a champion young man who showed awareness and spoke out,” Moosajee said.