South African Cricket Answers the Race Question

One of the myriad arenas in which South Africa has had to reconcile its apartheid past with its multi-racial present is in the realm of sport. Though under normal circumstances sports represent the ultimate meritocracy, for so long African athletes had no chance to compete or develop at the highest levels that some form of affirmative action program was necessary and just. As the Proteas head to the West Indies for the cricket World Cup, a competition for which South Africans are optimistic, SAPA reports that the program is showing progress to the point where targets for nonwhite playersd will no longer be necessary in the near future. The Proteas have seen the emergence of a legitimate black star in the form of bowler Makhaya Ntini and the leadership at Cricket South Africa (CSA) seem genuinely pleased with the program's progress.

Commenting on the announcement on Thursday of the 15-man squad selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup, Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola said he believed the spadework had been done.

“The restructuring of competitions, the fast-tracking of certain black players, are starting to show dividends, and we are now beginning to concentrate on quality rather than numbers,” said Majola. “There are enough players coming into the pool, and so I am comfortable that the system is achieving what we set out to achieve.“I’m happy to hear from the selectors that they did not have any difficulty achieving the target, and I’m also happy to hear that the players who missed out on selection included some black players. We never put pressure on the selectors, and although they had the option to approach the board and say they could not meet the target, they did not find this necessary.” Majola said there was no intention to raise the target for the World Cup in 2011.

“We review our targets annually, and the ultimate is to go for merit selection. I believe we are very close to that. I think at the end of this season, the board will meet again, and review our targets and decide whether it is necessary to continue with the target.”

Sport provides a pretty solid cultural thermometer in South Africa. There is still ample racism within the sporting community, but the case of South African cricket also shows that there are signs of progress.