Clumsy politicans smudge fields of dreams

Development was not a swear word. It was part of a well-organised programme and a young man from Mamelodi, Edward Khoza, with his own image and his own dream of the future planned, when he had graduated, how he was going to help the game grow. And how the culture of the sport learnt in the dusty streets would grow with him.

There are many like Edward Khoza. They are your average club player, yet they know the importance of good administration, and how they can help create the culture of the game which it takes years to develop. Bob Blair, who once coached in Northerns and played for New Zealand, explained not too long ago how it took 20 years of ``solid slog'' to develop a playing culture in Zimbabwe.

If you care to glance down the Zimbabwe scorecard of the match against Pakistan and which they won earlier this week, you will find the names of two players who had a decisive role in that victory. Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Henry Olonga are part of the programme in which Blair was involved. Later next year they could share the new ball attack against South Africa at Springbok Park in Bloemfontein when the two countries play a one-off test. It might become two should Zim beat Pakistan in the current series.

Just what sort of team South Africa will field, however, seems to depend on the whims of politicians who give the impression they could not care less whether South Africa beat the West Indies in the test series. That's the impression Tshwete and Thabo Masebe give in their statements demanding a speeding up of the transformation process.

It makes me wonder whether Masebe has ever visited a black area and watched the UCB development programme in action. He should start at Shoshanguve and then move to Mamelodi and on to Atteridgeville. He would get a pretty good eyeful of what it is all about.

His criticism of Peter Pollock's selection panel's decision to leave out Makhaya Ntini and Paul Adams is based on ignorance and uninformed opinion; it smacks of mischief-making by an ANC official. Masebe needs to learn a few facts about cricket culture from young Edward Khoza before he starts his tub thumping.

Perhaps the question which needs to be asked is just who is Masebe? If his comments are to be taken seriously he is not a friend of the UCB development scheme and its long term goals.

For someone who has vigorously supported the development and transformation process I find it hard to accommodate those who have no idea what is involved and yet aim to push ahead and damage the carefully built structures which left alone, will become successful.

Political appointees are going to find it hard to justify interfering in a programme designed to create a demographically correct selection and with it a nation of pride. The under/19 World Cup team was an example of the success of the scheme, a fact the NSC seem to have conveniently forgotten.

As the great West Indies author and philosopher, C L R James, once wrote: ``What do they know of cricket, who cricket only know? West Indians crowding to Tests bring with them the whole past history and the future hopes of the islands.''

The same can apply to today's South Africa: patience and care and attention, not pressure on the system, is more important than waving a big stick.

The danger of selecting players who are out of their depth and are more likely be an embarrassment to themselves and the side will exacerbate, not solve, the problem. As it is the Australians and England have already let it be known they will not play second rate South Africa teams. Merit selection policy not affirmative action is what really matters.

It leaves us with a sense of deja vu 30 years after the Basil D'Oliveira affair. Surely Messrs Tshwete and Masebe do not want to repeat similar a folly to that of John Vorster? And that is a real danger.