Does the whole quota thing make anyone else think of Marx's hypothesis of the dictatorship of the proletariat or is it just me?
Probably just me, but I'll go on. As the ANC was originally Marxist they'd probably appreciate the allusion if no-one else. Basically Uncle Karl was of the belief that the revolution would by necessity be followed by a transitional period where there was a dictatorship controlled by the proletariat. Now essentially, and here you must forgive me for my somewhat broad brush-stokes, I see the end of Apartheid as “the revolution” with the majority population & more specifically the ANC as "the proletariat" & the white population as "the bourgeoisie". Now I'm not for one second suggesting that the ANC is an actual dictatorship, but there's no doubt that they aren't so much encouraging change as kicking its doors in.
This is obviously causing resentment amongst sections of SA's white population, no-one likes being at the sharp end of a historical movement & one can but sympathise with anyone who's overlooked for any position against an obviously inferior candidate. The so-called targets (actually edicts as they apparently will be enforced, come what may) are a somewhat blunt tool used in an attempt to rectify the 40+ years of official apartheid & as long again before that of unofficial means of separate development. To my way of thinking the edicts will have two effects on South African international cricket, one desirable, one not: firstly, players of colour will be represented in meaningful numbers but secondly, this will weaken the South African team. If the edicts are here to stay (& the realpolitik is that they are) the issue is to change things so that the former doesn’t necessarily mean the latter.
Now happily in South Africa there is no official discrimination on grounds of colour but, as I think saggers observed, economics will discriminate almost as effectively as official policy. As I’m sure most of us are aware cricket can be an expensive game to play, so therefore it’s of little surprise that the affluent middle-class are over-represented in the sport. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that exposure to proper coaching & equipment leads to better players (if it didn’t all coaches & sports manufacturers would be buggered, frankly) so it’s pretty easy to see that a 13-year-old who has attended a prep-school is likely to be a better cricketer than one who grew up in a township. Now, with SA’s history being what it is, wealth is still largely concentrated amongst the white population who can therefore afford to send junior to the better schools. If this situation remains unchecked whites will continue to be over represented in any South African team selected on merit alone.
With the quotas/targets/edicts in place non-whites will be represented tho, I think we’re all reasonable enough fellows to agree this is desirable, the challenge for any working in South African cricket at any level is produce non-white cricketers of sufficient quality to make them redundant. However I would not begin to presume to have a simple answer for this brain-scratcher.
