Cricket SA admits sidelining black players in past
Cricket SA has admitted that it has failed to eradicate racial discrimination within the Proteas national team over the years.
“We‚ as the national federation‚ accept that as much as we agitated for redress and transformation, we were not successful in eradicating the creation of some players in favoured positions, pushing black players into the margins and not providing fairness and justice for all‚” Cricket SA said in a statement from the interim board on Tuesday.
Cricket SA acknowledged this as the organisation announced that its newly appointed transformation ombud‚ advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza‚ is ready to receive submissions.
These must be made via e-mail or through the post before the end of April.
Ntsebeza’s appointment as the transformation ombud was announced in August 2020, but the project was put on hold by the interim board shortly after it was appointed by sports minister Nathi Mthethwa in October. After a delay‚ the interim board revisited the project and officially launched it last week.
Cricket SA said Ntsebeza’s tenure will be for six months.
Ntsebeza‚ who said he was looking forward to the hearings during his first interaction with the media last week‚ was given a mandate to manage an independent complaints system that will look at the healing‚ restoration and uniting process of cricket players and fans‚ starting with former players.
Among his tasks will be to convene a national imbizo later this year and provide assurance on the extent to which transformation programmes affect cricket and society. Further responsibilities revealed during the announcement in 2020 included the setting up of a restoration fund to deal with opportunities lost due to discrimination.
Cricket SA sent out a directive to its affiliate members in all the provinces to make their facilities available either for onsite meetings at their respective headquarters or via their Zoom or Teams platforms.
Makhaya Ntini‚ Geoffrey Toyana‚ Monde Zondeki‚ Lance Klusener‚ Gary Kirsten‚ Marcia Letsoalo‚ Shandre Fritz‚ Nolubabalo Ndzundzu and Dinesha Devnarain were named as ambassadors for the project last year.