Cricketing great Jacques Kallis has said he is “embarrassed” to be South African after the government banned four sports federations from bidding for international tournaments for failing to pick enough black players.
South African Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula on Monday announced he would veto any bid by the cricket, rugby, netball and athletics bodies to host multinational events, because they have missed racial “transformation targets” designed to redress apartheid era inequalities.
While more than 90 percent of South Africans are black, they remain in a minority in the starting lineup for many national teams — most notably rugby and cricket — more than two decades after the end of whites-only rule.
However, Kallis, who is white, criticized the government for what he regarded as meddling in sport in a Tweet posted while he was coaching in India.
“So sad that I find myself embarrassed to call myself a South African so often these days #no place for politics in sport,” wrote Kallis, who is currently coaching the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
The government’s veto, which is to be reviewed in a year’s time, should not immediately affect South African cricket, as the right to host a major tournament is not currently up for grabs.
However, it could affect the rugby federation’s hopes of hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with the process scheduled to begin in a matter of months.
Although the national rugby body and the government have agreed that the Springboks team in the 2019 World Cup should be at least 50 percent black, only three black players regularly started at last year’s tournament.
Cricket South Africa is aiming to field at least seven players of color in its starting elevens, which would include black Africans, mixed-race players and those of Indian descent, such as Hashim Amla.
While South Africa has met that target in several one-day international matches, it has never had more than five non-white players in a Test team.
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