Discontent brewing in black African cricket clubs

Discontent is becoming increasingly apparent in black African clubs and rural areas and a group of Central Gauteng clubs will be seeking a meeting with Cricket South Africa following their brainstorming session at the Wanderers on Friday morning.

Ntsongo Sibiya, the head of the Johannesburg-based black African Cricket Clubs grouping and a board member of the Central Gauteng Lions, chaired Friday’s meeting and said they would be proposing CSA appoint a director of development and relook the entire system of developing previously disadvantaged talent.

“Our mandate is that we need to reposition black African cricket, where are we taking it? What has happened in South African cricket over the last two weeks brought this meeting forward, it was long overdue. There is no-one currently in the system who understands what it takes to develop the black African child and we wanted to brainstorm solutions to that.

“A lot of people have been telling us what’s good for us and things like the RPCs and Hubs have been imposed on us. If you want to know how to transform the national team properly, not cosmetically, then come to us, we will tell you where the bottlenecks are. The new director of cricket has a responsibility to develop everybody but we are not sure how much he understands about the kid in Soweto, Dan Qeqe, or Zwide.

“Without us and him sitting down it’s going to be a problem and how can we trust his development program? Would you trust Graeme Smith or Mark Boucher to develop players of colour? So we propose that there should be a director of development who can make sure that the system works, it’s a critical position and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a black African. We also want to see a review of the Hubs and RPCs,” Sibiya told media at SuperSport Park on Friday.

Sibiya said it was also time for the current board of Cricket South Africa to step down because they have failed when it comes to transformation.

“Have the last 26 years of transformation worked? We support calls for the current board to dissolve or resign because they have failed us from a transformation point of view. The whole system must change because it does not cater [to] the black African child. In terms of quotas, the required three black Africans in every team we still feel is okay.

“But it is the responsibility of all coaches and board members to ensure there is proper quality of opportunity. There have been a lot of injustices with people picked as batsmen but only coming in at nine or being picked as bowlers and not bowling. We need to look at those instances. What about kids in rural areas? We will be asking the other unions to have similar meetings to ours,” Sibiya said.

In response to the comments, Smith released a statement on Friday saying:

“I’m fully aware that in times of change in any organisation there will be instances of uncertainty and distrust from members of certain groups. I’m also well aware that in South Africa, it will take a lot for some members of the black community to put their trust in a white man of my background.

“I can assure them however that I fully intend to do my best to advance the transformation agenda of Cricket South Africa and ensure that young black African players are given the opportunity that they deserve to reach the highest levels in all areas of the game.”

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