Ntsebeza starts work on new CSA project
NINE months after its rather strange launch at Olympic House in Johannesburg, Cricket South Africa’s social justice and nation building (SJN) project will get down to some actual work at the start of May, with ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza stating that he would “act decisively” in dealing with racial discrimination within the sport.
The project was the brainchild of former CSA director Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw and was the result of several heart-breaking instances of discrimination in the sport described by a number of former players, coaches and administrators last year.
The project didn’t get off the ground, because despite nine ambassadors – including Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusener and Geoffrey Toyana – being named, there was no clarity about what Ntsebeza would do or how the project would be funded.
Kula-Ameyaw was then removed as a director amid the administrative implosion at CSA, and yesterday the organisation said it would provide further details about the project at a later date.
In the meantime, Ntsebeza has been given six months to get to grips with the initiative.
A wide variety of people from players to coaches, administrators and sponsors will engage with Ntsebeza, a veteran lawyer who served as a commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“My first task is to engage with the former players, coaches and administrators who last year provided heart-rending revelations about their personal experiences of racial discrimination in cricket since unity,” said Ntsebeza.
“They have indeed done the game a service in speaking out the way they did.
“This is no time for PR messaging; we have to be accountable and implement realistic and sustainable measures,” he added.
Cricket SA’s interim board has also tasked Ntsebeza with investigating how women “can be brought into the cricket mainstream at all levels as soon as possible”, and also how government, NGOs and the private sector can assist youngsters from historically disadvantaged communities to gain closer access to the sport.
Ntsebeza will submit a report to the CSA board in August.
Meanwhile, CSA Members’ Council chairman Rihan Richards confirmed yesterday that Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa had agreed to an extension of the deadline concerning the organisation’s administrative restructuring.
Mthethwa last week demanded that CSA finalise by April 6 all the steps needed to ensure that more independent directors will serve on the new Board of Directors, thereby aligning CSA’s administration with the recommendations of the Nicholson Inquiry.
Richards said that the Members’ Council, CSA’s highest decisionmaking body comprising the 14 provincial presidents, will inform Mthethwa tomorrow about their adherence to his mandate.
“It also gives us time to engage more with our affiliates,” said Richards.
“At the moment it is too early to tell if there has been a swing towards (what Mthethwa wants). It is still a delicate balance.”