The Sunday Independent

The d ivided state of the Proteas

STUART HESS stuart.hess@inl.co.za

Why has South Africa not won a World Cup? Tears have been shed, plenty of beers have been drunk and books have been written on the topic. Loots Bosman provided a simple answer:

“We go into camps where we buy into one thing and then you deal with the same person who treats you like you don’t exist. How are you going to win a World Cup when you don’t back the guy next to you?”

Bosman was at the infamous 2007 World Cup. On paper, a run to the semi-finals of the tournament actually doesn’t seem so bad.

But reflecting on it 14 years later, listening to the testimonies of Roger Telemachus and Bosman, who were there, it has to be said it is a wonder the Proteas even made it that far.

The Social Justice and Nation-building hearings have made clear, that the image the then United Cricket Board of South Africa and later Cricket SA, tried to portray of the Proteas as this team for the ‘new’ South Africa; united, diverse (when Makhaya Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs were the only two black players in the team), modern and embracing, was false.

It was the Springboks and rugby which was the team and sport, that was full of ‘verkramptes’ – desperate to hold on to its apartheid past.

There was Andre Markgraaff, who called a black administrator the k-word, Geo Cronje not wanting to share a room with Quinton Davids and Louis Luyt dragging Nelson Mandela to court.

Rugby had plenty of very public examples of white men trying to hold onto power and discriminating against black players and officials.

It was all very public. Cricket kept its problems in-house – until now.

Now we know, Omar Henry wanted to come home from the World Cup in 1992.

Did South African cricket learn from that? No, because in 2007, Telemachus wanted to come home from the World Cup, he having confronted those he felt had created a barrier for him and other black players in that squad.

Telemachus was happy to pay for his own ticket to fly home early from that tournament. Did South African cricket learn from that?

No, because eight years later Aaron Phangiso would be sitting alone in his hotel room, not knowing who to speak to, unable to understand why he couldn’t get one game at that tournament – against the United Arab Emirates.

“All alone, no game time, no nothing and you’re getting the same excuses all the time (about why you’re not getting picked),” said Phangiso.

Eddie Leie highlighted what black players were good for.

“I did a lot of activations (events for CSA’s sponsors) … I represented the team more at activations, than I did on the field,” said Leie. That was the facade.

“The Proteas, a diverse team, representative of the country and unified in their battles on the field. It wasn’t true.

Many players have explained that they are speaking out now, because the SJN is the first platform they’ve had where it is comfortable to do so.

Others, like Paul Adams explained, have battled internally with the discrimination they faced, speaking only to those closest to them, while others like Phangiso have outlined how they were concerned that as breadwinners they would lose their income if they spoke publicly about their experiences.

Rather than be treated as equals, black cricketers in this country were bullied by their white counterparts, made to feel like outsiders, called ‘brown sh**t’ and made to feel small.

Trust diminished, so far that even in an incident described by Bosman, who testified on Friday, during that 2007 World Cup, there was suspicion as to the motives of white players.

“I saw Mickey Arthur (then the Proteas coach), Graeme Smith (captain) and Mark Boucher, talking and pointing at me in the nets.

“Then Boucher comes over, and tells me how to play off-spin. I asked him, ‘What are you trying to do? I can play off-spin, if I couldn’t, then what am I doing here?’”

Bosman viewed the incident as Boucher trying to undermine his confidence, ahead of a match the next day, because in Bosman’s mind, Boucher was trying to protect a close friend of his in the squad, Justin Kemp, who had been dropped to accommodate Bosman in the starting team.

Boucher may have viewed it as providing a teammate with assistance, but the fact that Bosman was suspicious of Boucher’s motive, indicates just how divided that particular squad was, and how black players mistrusted their white counterparts.

Bosman, worried that the facade that South African cricket had created in the 1990s still existed, testified – in response to a question from the ombud, Adv Dumisa Ntsebeza – that he felt Temba Bavuma being made captain was part of the masquerade.

“Whoever is black, if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, you get kicked out. We all know, you have to play along,” said Bosman.

What the SJN hearings have made clear is that when Ntsebeza and his assistants have completed their work and submitted their report to the new board of directors, black players in South Africa want to see change.

That change can’t be the superficial kind which made the Proteas appear to be a united team – that change needs to be genuinely inclusive and there needs to be honesty from all in buying into that change, particularly the white establishment in South African cricket.

The hearings will continue until August 6. Among those set to testify are CSA itself, the SA Cricketers Association, Afriforum and the former CSA chief executive, Thabang Moroe.

Ntsebeza will submit a report to the board at the end of September.

SPORT

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2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thesundayindependent.pressreader.com/article/281917366106901

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