Ken Borland

‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ is a well-known phrase and in Cricket South Africa’s case it translates to ‘don’t ignore the requests of whoever is giving you your payslip’ as they announced on Monday that no tickets will be made available to the general public for the three Tests against India that start on Boxing Day.

CSA have made their immense gratitude to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for agreeing to the tour despite all the recent Covid scares well-known, with the broadcast fees providing a timely boost to their dwindling financial reserves. So when India requested that there be no spectators present during the series, for the protection of their somewhat reluctant players, they were always going to accede.

CSA were even willing to say in their official statement that it was a joint decision by the two bodies. But sources from the stadiums who are going to host the three matches have confirmed India was clearly reluctant to have the general public at the games.

There will apparently still be some spectators at the matches because a limited number of hospitality suites will be available for sponsors and administrators.

Another disappointing revelation for cricket fans on Monday was the news that the Mzansi Super League, scheduled for February, will revert back to just being an ordinary CSA T20 Challenge competition.

The Proteas are due to play a Test series in New Zealand from mid-February, which means they will certainly miss most of the T20 tournament, and, according to insiders, there has been little interest from any overseas stars in the MSL.

The difficulties of international travel during these times of Covid have played a role, as has the rand/dollar exchange rate, with CSA apparently needing to fork out large amounts to get rather average overseas cricketers to participate.

It means fans will have to be satisfied with seeing the young pups of domestic cricket battle it out, and it will also be held in a bio-bubble at St George’s Park.

CSA made the decision apparently in an effort to protect the MSL brand, given that the product in February is bound to be watered down compared to the premier global event they envisaged when they first introduced the troubled event.

Thriston Lawrence was still shaking with excitement and the release of nervous tension half-an-hour after being told he was the winner of the weather-disrupted Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club on Saturday, giving the 24-year-old South African a life-changing first international title.

Saturday was meant to be the final round of the co-sanctioned tournament with the DP World (formerly European) Tour, after the organisers decided to cut the event to 54 holes due to the terrible weather and the turmoil caused by travel restrictions overseas due to the announcement of a new Covid variant discovered in South Africa.

But the thundershowers returned just after midday and did not let-up in time to avoid the tournament being called off at 3pm. With the second round first needing to be completed on Saturday morning, none of the 69 golfers who made the cut were able to complete their third round.

The final placings were therefore decided based on the completed second-round scores and Lawrence, who had bogeyed the first hole and parred the second just before play stopped, was declared the winner by virtue of his four-shot lead over Zander Lombard after back-to-back 65s.

“I’m still shaking and it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Lawrence said after receiving the crystal trophy. “It’s always been a goal of mine to win on the European Tour, but I didn’t see it coming so quickly and you never think it would come out like this.

“But the whole week has been strange weather and my mentality was just to finish the tournament. It wasn’t nice waiting today because you hear a lot of talk about what might or might not happen.

“But I’m just thankful for the way it turned out, it’s a life-changing moment and a lot of things are going to change in my schedule. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Being me a week ago to now is two worlds apart.

“You want to see yourself up there winning tournaments, but there have been a lot of knocks in the last year-and-a-half and it’s been tough,” Lawrence said.

The winner of one previous Sunshine Tour event – the 2019 Vodacom Origins Stellenbosch – was a trifle disappointed to not have his winning moment on the 18^th green, but even that did not stop his perpetual smile.

“I would have liked to get the win on the 18^th, have a winning putt, so it was not the perfect way to finish,” Lawrence said.

“But I played unbelievable golf over the last two days to take a four-shot lead into the weekend.

“Then the tournament was cut short amid a lot of confusion. The weather prediction was actually fine for today with a zero percent chance of lightning. But that only lasted 45 minutes.

“But I just stayed patient and I will take a lot of confidence from this win. And I don’t have to worry about invites anymore,” the Nelspruit golfer said.

The Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings resumed this week with those implicated in the earlier sittings getting the chance to answer their accusers and it seems the first half of the commission had several charlatans giving evidence.

It just goes to show the importance of hearing both sides of the story before jumping to sensational conclusions.

Clear problems have been identified like the Dolphins’ handling of Aya Myoli’s assault by Robbie Frylinck, the millions of rand which Easterns have been given to uplift development clubs but which have not been distributed to them and Khaya Zondo’s non-selection in 2015.

Myoli’s treatment is particularly shocking: because Frylinck negotiated a plea bargain that included confidentiality, Myoli, despite being the victim, was never informed of the outcome of the disciplinary hearing back in 2016 and had no idea some form of justice had been done.

But there has also been much evidence that previous testimony has come from embittered former players, especially those convicted of matchfixing offences.

We heard stories of players who had a history of creating divisions within their team, players who complained of being underpaid in comparison to White players when the facts showed that for eight of their seasons with a franchise they were within the top-four salary-earners, and international stars who complained about being discriminated against but failed 15 different fitness tests but were considered undroppable due to quotas.

While some of this has undoubtedly been mischievous, there have also been understandable misunderstandings and it has been good this week to see much of the air cleared up.

Enoch Nkwe’s demotion from interim head coach to assistant coach was controversial and sinister undertones were detected when then acting CSA chief executive Jacques Faul held a meeting with him over cappuccinos at Pearl Valley after Faul had met with SACA, the players’ association.

But Faul pointed out this week that he set up the meeting with Nkwe, along with director of cricket Graeme Smith, head coach Mark Boucher and captain Faf du Plessis in order to allow them to try and find common ground because he was desperately keen to keep Nkwe involved with the Proteas.

Empty vessels make the most noise, so the saying goes, but amidst all the loud cries of racial discrimination why hasn’t there been more noise over the fact that the Black-dominated previous CSA Board was seriously underpaying Nkwe as well as manager Khomotso Volvo Masubelele?

When Faul, who had been acting CEO before in 2012/13, returned to CSA in December 2019, he was shocked to find Nkwe and Masubelele were earning less than what their predecessors were getting in 2012. And this was approved by a CSA Board which only featured a couple of Whites and former CEO Thabang Moroe. The same people who appointed Smith as director of cricket and approved Boucher as the head coach.

Also giving evidence this week was former Proteas manager Mohammed Moosajee, a man who has contributed immensely to South African cricket and is as committed to transformation and excellence as anyone. He is a cricket man through and through.

As usual, he made perfect sense when he called for the Proteas to have a unified stance towards BLM, rather than the currently awkward situation where some people are kneeling, others are not; some fists are raised, others are not. As is so often the case in South Africa, it comes down to education.

Moosajee pointed out that it was himself and vilified former captain Smith who actually came up with the concepts around a more inclusive team with a greater appreciation for people from different backgrounds, races and religions.

As Moosajee pointed out, there is still work to be done to ensure the Proteas are a fully transformed and successful outfit, one which returns to the top table of world cricket. But much progress has been made in the last dozen years.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Vodacom’s 17-year title sponsorship of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series makes them one of the Sunshine Tour’s most loyal partners, giving South African professionals playing opportunities through the winter, but the telecommunications company has always also been focused on the higher calling of helping develop people in general and supporting charitable initiatives in the communities they visit.

This week the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is in Gqeberha for the two-day Pro-Am and then the professional tournament at Humewood Golf Club, and Tshego Malinga, the executive head of department for the Customer Business Unit Eastern Region, is focused on making sure the event touches many peoples’ lives.

“We have the ability to make sure profit meets purpose and I am a firm believer that the two are never mutually exclusive. At the centre of everything we do at Vodacom is the desire to enable our customers to live out their purpose. We do that by connecting them in an environment in which they can express their passions and aspirations.

“But it’s also important for Vodacom to be part of the development of South Africa as a whole, and sport plays a very important part in the development of the nation. We want to help people explore their talent and hopefully some of them can go on to become international icons. We also want to be helpful to the community and the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has really assisted in the funding of many charities,” Malinga says.

This week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am at Humewood will be raising funds for the Maro Foundation, which was started in 2014 by Pamela Mabini.

A social and gender activist from Kwazakhele, Mabini used her corporate connections to distribute food, blankets, clothes, shoes and hygiene products to the homeless. Since then she has opened two facilities in Johannesburg for the rehoming of mentally handicapped, disabled or HIV-positive children who have been abandoned by their families,

“We have the ability to really help this NGO that is also helping in the fight against gender-based violence, so that’s our big focus for this tournament. We want to help those who have less access to things we might take for granted. We need a consciousness of the environment we operate in, we can’t just be focused on our share price.

“It is super special for us to be able to host this event and help the Maro Foundation in these times of Covid and all the hesitation around that. It’s a tricky balance making sure people are safe but also bringing them together. We really want the show to go on, so we can keep helping people. It’s an honour for Vodacom to be able to do that,” Malinga says.

Although not a golfer herself, Malinga is also acutely aware of the history of Humewood Golf Club, one of South Africa’s top courses and the host of many major tournaments.

“Vodacom, Humewood and the Eastern Cape are all very iconic brands, so this event is the amalgamation of very strong South African brands. We all have a responsibility to society and Humewood has a strong heritage in both Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth society. It has credibility because of its heritage and this collection of brands people love makes it easier to galvanise them around their shared history and love for the province and city,” Malinga says.

The Pro-Am Dinner on the eve of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has already raised R25 000 for the Maro Foundation, with the fundraising efforts continuing all week.