Former S African cricket supremo backs ban by sports minister

Former CSA supremo Ali Bacher has backed a decision by the country's sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, to ban Cricket South Africa and national federations for rugby, athletics and netball from hosting international events until they transformed to include 60 percent Black South Africans in their teams.
Bacher, who spearheaded the return of the Proteas to the international cricketing fraternity after decades of isolation due to apartheid, said sports federations had long been warned that government would intervene if transformation did not take place.
National squad for these sports have fielded few Black players despite the majority population being Black.
'Black' is defined by the South African government as including people of African, Indian, Coloured and Chinese descent who were denied opportunities in the apartheid era.

Mbalula's action is largely seen as punitive for sports bodies failing to include more Black players in sides despite repeated government pleas for transformation since the advent of the first democracy led by Nelson Mandela in 1994.
On Monday, the minister said the federations controlling these four sports genres in the country had not met the required rate of transformation in their sports, banning them from bidding for or hosting major events until his decision comes under review next year.

Cricket South Africa said it would be seeking clarity from Mbalula to determine where they have failed in their quest to transform.

CSA has put in place plans which has seen some Black players of note emerge in the Protea ranks.
CSA communications manager Altaaf Kazi said they needed to review the contents of the report in order to understand where transformation targets set by the Ministry of Sport were not met before they could comment further.
The ban though will have no immediate impact on international tournaments in South Africa, as CSA will not play host to any major tournaments during the current Future Tours Programme (FTP) ending in June 2019.
CSA has not indicated intention of bidding for major events.