Anti-reform brigade is frothing at the mouth
TO be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant, a sage once said.
In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty, sing Bob Marley and the Wailers in Rat Race, a track on the Rastaman Vibration album.
Fikile Mbalula caused a lot of vibration when he revoked the rights of the South African Rugby Union, Cricket South Africa, Athletics South Africa and Netball South Africa to bid and host major international events.
The four federations are in the dock for their failure to effect transformation in their respective codes.
Saru and CSA have adopted a knee-jerk reaction to transformation in the last two decades of democracy. The anti-transformation brigade is frothing at the mouth and has been quick to beat the drum that relegates the inclusion of black like me in rugby and cricket to the dropping of standards. Yet the reality is different. Only higher grade retards can refer to Makhaya Ntini, Kagiso Rabada and Themba Bavuma as droppers of standards.
One thing certain is that Jacques Kallis has dropped in the estimation of progressive thinking South Africans who comprehend that resisting transformation is merely delaying the inevitable.
He made a twerp of himself on twitter with his hair-raising tweet as he declared it “so sad that i find myself embarrassed to call myself a South African so often these days”; which he qualified with a “no place for politics in sport” declaration.
That’s not surprising coming as it does from Kallis, who was part of a powerful cabal of senior players who RAYMOND HACK: Former chief executive officer of the South African Football Association were the de facto selectors of the Proteas. A member of that cabal once threatened to quit the team if a certain Thami Tsolekile was selected. And he wasn’t. Go figure! And the anti-transformation noisemakers were silent.
Kallis sees nothing odd with Aaron Phangiso being reduced to a waterboy, perhaps a silent affirmation of apartheid architect Hendrik Verwoed’s assertion that Africans were meant to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.
The less said about Allan Donald, who felt the burning urge to outdo Kallis with his equally outrageous tweet, the better. He has shown his true colours. The mask has fallen off.
If black equals failure it is ironic that the Boks, the most successful national side in SA, beat the best team in the world, New Zealand, for the first time in 10 years in their backyard when they were coached by a black man, Peter de Villiers. Even the Chuck Norris of rugby, as some call All Black great Richie McCaw, has labelled that team as the best MIKE MANGENA: The first black player signed by Wits University in 1981 Bokke he’s played against. When they roll out racist drivel to defend the indefensible, they say transformation must happen at school level. A cursory glance at the Craven Week reveals a sea of blackness — that’s grass roots. When they really have nothing else to say, they claim football is not transformed. Hokum. Ask Raymond Hack, Ronnie Schloss, Dereck Blanckensee, the Tshiclas couple Natasha and Angelo and the Comitis brothers John and George. Ask Phil “Uyindoda” Venter, Stuart Lilley, Mike Lambert, Peter Ballack, Greg Jacoby, Big John Salter, Eugene Kleynhans and Brummie de Leur, Mark and Neil Tovey, Gavin ERIC TINKLER: Part of the South Africa squad that won the 1996 African Cup of Nations
Only higher grade retards can refer to Makhaya Ntini, Kagiso Rabada and Themba Bavuma as droppers of standards The 14-man squad contained seven white footballers and seven black, and outplayed an Argentinian selection 5-0
Lane and Eric Tinkler.
In 1981, Wits University signed their first black player, Mike Mangena, who was followed by Mike Ntombela, Zeph Nxumalo and Leornard “Waga Waga” Likoebe.
History lesson: “The 14-man football squad on that historic night in a capacity-filled Rand Stadium — with the local team labelled Springboks and not Bafana Bafana — contained seven white footballers and seven black, and outplayed an Argentinian selection 5-0, with the notable contribution of four goals from boy wonder Jomo Sono.
“Among the players in the class of 1976 were Sono, Patrick “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Webster “City Late” Lichaba, Patson “Kamuzu” Banda, Shaka Ngcobo, Vusi “Computer” Lamola and Johannes “Yster” Khomane, who constituted the black complement, with Martin Cohen, Stuart Lilley, Bobby Viljoen, Len Wilkinson, Dave Herholdt, Ian Bender and Rodney Kitchin making up the white segment,” wrote Sy Lerman in 2014. Enough said.