South African teams to have a minimum of 60% black players

Fikile Mbalula, South African Minister of Sport and Recreation wants to see 60% black representation in teams

Post the meeting of South Africa’s Sport Minister Fikile Mbaula and the sports MECs on Saturday, new regulations have come into practice where sports teams which includes the likes of the South African cricket team who do not field 60% black players will be barred from representing South Africa.

Instead of the earlier 50-50 quota system, teams will now have to meet the minimum BEE expectations of featuring a relatively higher amount of black players in teams, be it cricket, athletics, rugby, netball or football.

“[We will] withdraw the national colours to any federation(s) who are hell-bent on the current set-up and status quo,” said Mbalula in a statement quoted by the Business Day Live. “The Minmec (ministers and MECs) recommended that it must happen right away. We are going to engage and inform rugby and all the other sporting codes that this is something that has got to happen.”

“[We will demand} development plans from the South African Rugby Union (SARU), South African Football Association (SAFA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Athletics South Africa (ASA) and Netball South Africa as a matter of urgency and with immediate effect.”

All the new resolutions will be implemented before the new government comes into action after the upcoming elections in May, Mbalula has revealed.

“Transformation is not going to be easy, so we have got to talk to them. I have instructed my people that we must equally engage the private sector because they are the biggest investors in terms of sports transformation and sports in general,” he added.

“Is the minister asking us to implement a quota of 13 black players in Super Rugby teams from next Saturday and the Boks from June, for instance? There is a lot that needs to be understood.” the spokesman of South African Rugby Union express his discontent with the new regulations.

However, Cricket South Africa spokesman Altaaf Kazi revealed that they are yet to talk to Mbaula privately. “We are not in a position to comment on the statement as the minister might want to explain what he meant when he finally meets us.”

The Highveld Lions coach Geoff Toyana was in favour of the new resolution and felt that it would be helpful for the country with a population of over 80% black Africans.

“We are going in the right direction at CSA, but if there is a quota it could help,” he said. “We have been through the days of black batsmen coming in at No 8, 9 10 and 11, and black bowlers who bat at No 9 and don’t bowl.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Transformation is about giving players quality opportunities. We’ve done that at the Lions and the players haven’t disgraced themselves. I’ll be happy if something like this happens. I would support it.”

According to a report in the Daily Maverick, Rugby had the highest percentage of black sportsmen with 71%, followed by cricket (65%), football (40%), netball (37%) and athletics (22%).

In addition to that, CSA scored 3.5 on the “black African” category and 10 for “generic black” across these four formats of cricket – Test, ODI, T20 and U-19 cricket.

Following the announcement, former Proteas captain Clive Rice admitted that Mbalula’s new regulations was a mere way of securing more votes from the black community of the country.

“Let him do it with pleasure,” he said. “He is the one supposed to promote and develop sport and now he threatens to penalise our sports teams,” Rice told the Beeld.

“It seems like Mbalula does not understand how failure on the playing field works. These politicians have no clue about what happens on the playing field. How many promising black players’ careers have been ruined by this obsession with quotas? It’s not about the numbers in a team, but the number of quality players.

“By only picking black players to get the numbers right, you sacrifice quality and it forces those players to play at a level they’re not ready for yet. You get exposed so easily if you’re not good enough for a certain level. It ruins a player and then the minister must take responsibility for it. Nobody likes being pushed too early and then realise you are out of your depth.”

“But let him continue,” Rice added. “He’ll destroy the careers of a lot of black sportsmen.”

South Africa’s U-19 coach Ray Jennings agreed with his former team-mate Rice. “We had four black players in the SA Under-19 team this year. “They all have a lot of talent but should be developed systematically.”

“You cannot say whether a Kagiso Rabada will be ready to play for South Africa in a year of maybe even five years. You can’t perform at your best if you’re not comfortable with the situation you find yourself in. Therefore, it is very dangerous to push players too early,” Jennings continued.

“At the moment, Cricket South Africa is doing good work developing black players and I feel that process should occur as naturally as possible without putting pressure on it,” he added.