Cricket South Africa stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter

On Wednesday (July 8), England and West Indies players took a knee in solidarity with ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) movement in Southampton just minutes before the start of their first Test match. Joining hands in the cause, Cricket South Africa (CSA) director Graeme Smith has stated that the board will find out some ‘effective way’ to contribute towards the movement in a country that has a history of segregation.



South Africa now has a fair representation of coloured players as per CSA’s policy but things were different prior to the country’s isolation in 1970 when team were made up of white players only while excluding others. Meanwhile, men’s pacer Lungi Ngidi has recently made it clear his support for the movement.



“We are very aware of what’s going on around the world and of our role at CSA (Cricket South Africa),” Smith said during an online press conference. “Lungi answered it very well when he said we are all in our own little pockets, and I think it’s important that in the future we all come together and figure out how we can play our role in the BLM movement; how we can be effective in doing that,” he added.



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Meanwhile, CSA Acting CEO, Dr Jacques Faul said, the board was founded on the principles of non-racialism and inclusion at unity and the cricket development programmes have proven demonstrably that they strive to work towards the constitutional promise of redress and equality for all.



“Black Lives Matter. It is as simple as that. As a national sporting body representing more than 56 million South Africans and with the privileged position of owning a platform as large as we do, it is of vital importance that we use our voice to educate and listen to others on topics involving all forms of discrimination,” Paul said in a statement released by CSA.



“During our celebrations of Nelson Mandela International Day on 18 July, CSA will further spread the message of anti-racism through the BLM campaign while we also speak out against all forms of violence and in particular, the scourge that is gender-based violence and various other causes that are of importance to our society and the organization,” he added.



The African country has a history of colonialism and apartheid. “My belief in these things is that it’s important to have buy-in and that of everyone invested in it as well, and I have no doubt that will be the case. But the discussion in each team environment and as CSA about how we handle it going forward is important. But as far as our iconic men’s and women’s teams are concerned there needs to be discussion,” Smith said.