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Graduate School for Humanities and Social Science Anthropology Department WITS UNIVERSITY Research Report Cricket and Politics: An Ethnographic Study of Black Cricketers in Gauteng. By Lewis Manthata 338287 Research Report and Course Work. A discourse submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Anthropology completed under the Supervision of Professor S. Vawda. February 2016 Declaration I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Masters of Arts in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university. Lewis Manthata Day of 2016 / 11/20 Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Prof Shahid Vawda, for his invaluable support and guidance during the years of my research. I further dedicate this thesis to my mom, Lydia Manthata who passed away on December 2012. Thank you for the selfless sacrifice and support you gave to me. My sincere gratitude and thanks to the members of the Anthropology department for their relentless support and advice over the years. A special note of thanks to my colleagues and students at St Johns College, for their support and undying love for my work and research. I could not have done it without the foundation I got from the two illustrious institutions; Fort Hare and Rhodes University. My gratitude and thanks goes to the cricket community and individuals who gave of their time in the form of interviews, and their participation in group discussions and debates. Lastly, I thank Nthabi and Naledi Manthata for their unfailing love, support, and belief in me. Abstract The Republic of South Africa has just celebrated twenty years of democracy. Before this, the country had endured more than forty years of racism and apartheid. It was a system designed to destroy the socio-economic progress of the black majority, and therefore leading up to a dispossessed, landless peasants and a proletariat drawn from rural South Africa with very few economic opportunities within the racialized economy. The architects of apartheid used sport to enforce and to legitimise the ruling National Party regime. The game of cricket and the political narrative have long been inextricably intertwined in South Africa. The history of cricket in South Africa reflects the social and political process of the country since the arrival of the 1820 Settlers in the Eastern Cape. The game has been influenced by forces beyond the sports field, more so in post- apartheid South Africa. Transformation is a topical issue within cricket circles in South Africa and will continue to remain so until there is redress. The study of cricket and transformation can be viewed as a social metaphor that allows for the analysis on socio-economic issues in the country. The main objective of the study is to establish whether the Cricket fraternity has succeeded in reshaping the game, and in contributing to building a new national culture in a democracy. Cricket development initiatives have made a significant impact on the reconstruction of cricket and to a large extend sport. Despite the efforts to level the playing field through development initiatives, the reality of an unequal society continues to determine the ‘codes of behaviour and action’ of South African cricket. This thesis aims to show that the game of cricket has struggled to navigate the waters of transformation and change even in post-apartheid South Africa. The paper seeks to understand and analyse the reasons that prevent effective transformation as stipulated by the constitution of the Republic. Table of Contents Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………………. I Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………………. II Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………. III Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………….. IV Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Problem Statement and Introduction………………………………………………… 1 1.2 Research Question……..……………………………………………………………………… 2 1.3 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………… 3 1.4 Framework of Analysis………………………………………………………………………. 7 1.5 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 1.6 Ethical Considerations……………………………………………………………………….. 8 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Politics of Sport in South Africa……………………………………………………… 9 2.2 Discourse of Development…………………………………………………………….. 11 2.3 History of Cricket in Colonial South Africa…………………………………….. 14 2.4 West Indian Cricket and Apartheid……………………………………………….. 17 2.5 Race and Sport ……..…………………………………………………………………….. 21 2.6 Theories of Sport …………...……………………………………………………………. 25 2.7 Affirmative Action in South African Sport……………………………………… 26 2.8 Khaya Majola………………………………………………………………………………… 27 2.9 Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB)………………………………………………………… 29 2.10 Bakers Mini Cricket Programme (KFC Programme)……………………….. 31 CHAPTER 3 3.1 Quotas VS Merit debate……………………………………………………………….. 32 3.2 CSA Transformation Agenda…………………………………………………………. 36 3.3 Political Economy of Cricket …………………………………………………………. 40 Chapter 4 4.1 Description and Analysis of Data………………………………….…………………….. 46 4.2 General Comment on results…………………………………………………............ 51 4.3 History of Marginalisation ……………………………………………………………….. 58 Chapter 5 5.1 Recommendations……………………………………………………………….……….. 69 5.2 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………. 72 References…………………………………………………………………………………… 73-75 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………… 1-10 Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction This study endeavours to situate the voice of Black cricket. It can be argued that cricket, much like South Africa has a history of racial compartmentalisation. One gets the feeling that it is a taboo to talk about race and racism in South African sport. The subject of race, racism and sport in South Africa is a symptom and a reflection of a bigger problem in the South African society. Cricket in South Africa is bound with questions of social class, status, elitism and the ideas of Victorian gentlemen. Merrett (2009: xvii) holds that since the arrival of the 1820 settlers in South Africa, cricket has been a reflection of the country’s colonial segregationist history. It is a fact of this country’s history that White cricket has often received significant publicity, while that of Blacks has largely been shelved and hidden from the world. What lies hidden is a rich and exciting history that requires exploration and interest, especially in so far as it significantly influences the present day realities of cricket, and more broadly sport in South Africa. The structural divisions between Black and White cricketers are a reflection of broader socio-economic and divisions between racial groups in South Africa. From the mid-1980 to early 1990s, South Africa entered a new phase as struggles for the democratisation process spread across the different facets and institutions of South Africa. Cricket was not immune to this process. However these waves of transition have always been characterised by racial divisions and inequality. The point is that in spite of the difficult socio-economic history that Black cricketers have been faced with in the Reef (Gauteng) over time, there has been a consistent production of good Black African cricketers over time. Empirical evidence has illustrated that only White cricket has enjoyed government and business support, over time, even after the new dispensation, this legacy continued albeit in different and new forms. For example, even if it appears superficial, given the evident imbalances in our society, it is inevitable that when people think of South African cricket, the names that roll out of people’s tongues are Sean Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Hansie Cronje, Allan Donald, AB de Villiers, Patrick Symcox, Ray Jennings, Neil Mackenzie and Lance Klusner. Desai (2002; IX) argues that the inauguration of the United Cricket Board of South Africa in 1991-three years before the advent of democracy did not bring about an environment for 1 redressing the historical imbalances in the game, nor did it include the recognition of the long history of Black cricket. He argues the new cricket board, the United Cricket Board of South Africa, initially represented a continuation of White cricket past. This somehow placed limits on Black cricket as White media and officials only viewed Black history from the time of the inception of the development programme by Dr Ali Bacher in the 1980s. It is argued by many that Bacher’s goal was not to de-radicalise cricket but to ensure the readmission of South Africa to International cricket, while apartheid structures remained intact. Yet the History of Black cricket has remained in the forefront of the agenda of the liberation movement. It is fact that the liberation movement and their allies both inside and outside the country continued to question the prevailing ethos of Cricket South Africa around the issues of merit, race and transformation. It is true that from 1997 onwards, there was a change in the national agenda of cricket, and the focus was more of the Africanization of the sport, demographics, development, financial well-being and stability. From 1994 onwards, policy has focussed on changing the face of Cricket in South Africa without addressing the issue of ‘power relations’ representations and cultures of White cricket in South Africa. This research will show that the cricketers who played on the wrong side of the line in the bad days are the