Cricket South Africa (CSA), the sport’s governing body in the country, will reportedly consider ‘reparations’ to past players who have been discriminated against. This is part of the sport’s new Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) project.
According to Cricinfo,compensation amounts will be determined once complaints of discrimination have been heard by Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who has been appointed as the transformation ombudsman, a new position.
This comes as stories of alleged racial discrimination in cricket come to the fore in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter movement. Thami Tsolekile, who played three Test matches for South Africa, said that he believed that racism was the cause when he was overlooked to succeed Mark Boucher in 2012, after the latter’s career-ending eye injury. Makhaya Ntini, who played over 100 Test matches for the country, also came forward and spoke about how he felt he had been ostracised while playing for the Proteas.
Said Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, a CSA Independent Board Director and transformation chair: ‘My expectation is that, based on the complaints, the ombudsman will be able to categorise them, and based on that, he will be able to determine what percentage goes to which player. If you work in an asbestos factory and they are affected by TB, you get compensated. There’s nothing wrong with compensation when people have lost income.’
She also said that compensation would not only be limited to black players and that anyone who felt they had been discriminated against could come forward.
This could mean that a player like Kyle Abbott, who was dropped from the 2015 World Cup semi-final XI because of transformation requirements, could in theory approach CSA for reparations. Younger players, such as Leus du Plooy, who sought his fortune in England after saying that he felt there was a lack of opportunity for young white players in South Africa, could also make a claim.
The SJN project has nine ambassadors, including former Proteas Ntini, Monde Zondeki, Lance Klusener, and Gary Kirsten.
[Picture: Alessandro Bogliari on Unsplash]