Sports minister snubs team
AFP
January 2 1999
CAPE TOWN, Jan 2 (AFP) - South Africa's cricketers were snubbed by sports
minister Steve Tshwete on Saturday as they continued to dominate their
series
against the West Indian tourists.
Tshwete said he could not support the South African team. He criticised
the
selectors for failing to give opportunities to more black players after
Hansie
Cronje's team clinched the series in the third Test.
His comments came as the United Cricket Board (UCB) prepared to unveil a
Transformation Charter on Sunday which will pledge to make the promotion
of
cricket among black Africans its top priority.
But Tshwete told the Johannesburg Sunday Times newspaper that transformation
in sport was not happening fast enough.
``I am worried that we will be sending white teams to the rugby and
cricket
World Cups in Britain this year. If that is the case it will be difficult
for
me to support them.''
Tshwete said he was concerned about all South African sports. ``At the
Commonwealth Games in Malaysia last year you could have switched the
labels on
the South African and English teams if you judged them by the percentage
of
black athletes.''
South African cricket boss Ali Bacher hit back at Tshwete.
``The board has enormous respect for Mr Tshwete, who played a crucial
rthe unification of cricket, but we disagree on this issue,'' he said.
``If we had picked a below-strength team for the Newlands Test it would
have
been demeaning to our opponents from the West Indies and their supporters
around the world, unfair to the commercial stakeholders in the game, and
would
have devalued the honour and privilege of representing South Africa in a
Test
match.''
Raymond White, president of the UCB, will unveil the charter during the
tea
break on the second day of the fourth Test Sunday.
He will emphasise that the charter is the result of 15 months of
internal soul-searching and dialogue, rather than a response to criticism
by political
figures such as Tshwete and Mluleki George, chairman of the National
Sports
Council, the country's overriding sports controlling body.
White will pledge that the board, ``operating in an African context'',
recognises a historic and moral duty to serve the ``truly disadvantaged'',
most
of whom are black Africans.
Tshwete welcomed the charter and its recognition of the need to uplift
black
African cricket. He said, though, that transformation in sport had not
gone far
enough.
He said he was heartened by an assurance that from next season it would
be compulsory for all provincial teams to include players of colour.
``There is a problem at provincial level,'' he said. ``The provinces are
frustrating and suppressing black talent. The development programme in
cricket
started a long time ago. We see players coming through at the youth levels
but
they should then go straight into the provincial teams.''
Political criticism has dogged the South African team since an
all-white
side was picked for the first Test. South Africa won the first three
matches of
the five-Test series and hammered the tourists again Saturday, scoring 282
for
two by the end of the first day.
Despite more criticism in the days leading up to the Test at Newlands,=
a
capacity crowd of 22,000 watched Saturday's play. The gates were closed
before
lunch.
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