What is thought of as a dark time in the history of South African Cricket, will soon reveal itself as the best thing to have happened as we push to become a better cricketing nation, writes Ongama Gcwabe.

A whole lot has been happening within the country’s governing body of cricket and the Proteas men team in particular, and many have used tags such as “turmoil”, “rot” and “darkest times” to label the situation in the country. One thing’s for certain, though, what is transpiring out in the open, in front of the whole world, within the Proteas men team competing in the T20 World Cup, is exactly what is happening within the country.

Last week, an interview held by a well-known radio personality and two politicians made rounds on social media, and upset a lot of South Africans with the nature in which the interviewer was senseless in what is a deep and emotional topic to converse about in such a public platform.

Then the Quinton de Kock decision not to play in the second fixture of the Proteas on Tuesday, following the directive from the board of Cricket South Africa in line with supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, followed and was received with an uproar in a similar light to the aforementioned interview.

To say the least, as a young black man writing this on October 26 at 23:37pm SAST, I am beyond devastated that this is happening, that after all, there is no unity whatsoever in my favourite sporting team, in fact, there never was any unity, as many testimonies have highlighted in CSA’s SJN Hearings.

The easiest thing to do is to point fingers as to who is wrong and who is right, but I refuse to be a part of that debacle because I understand that doing so will make me a part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Instead, I acknowledge that surely Quinton and many others, lack an understanding about the lengths to which the fight against racism has gotten and how deep it goes to those who on a daily basis are subjected to assaults and abuse because of the colour of their skin.

Bavuma bossed the post-match press conference with honesty saying the different “backgrounds” of members of the team is a huge reason behind the divide that was apparent in that first match against Australia in which some players did not take a knee, clearly refusing to take part in the fight against racism.

On a more positive note, I argue that everything that has happened in the recent past, the SJN Hearings and now the De Kock decision, is all part of the journey towards the healing of a nation.

As the great Nelson Mandela once said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks in a language people understand. It creates hope where once there was despair.”

Perhaps this quote from Madiba is now taking place in a way most of us are not used to, I mean, the drama at CSA is not inspirational as Siya Kilosi’s World Cup-winning team. But the conversations that this SA cricket drama has started across all platforms, both public and private, is just what the country needed.

How else were we going to get to the bottom of this issue had we not had the SJN Hearings? If we did have these conversations in the absence of the hearings or all this drama, I don’t think we would have them to the degree we are having them now.

As a country, a proud cricketing nation, we cried for a better space, for a healthier environment, for a thriving environment, in fact, we asked for rain, thus we should be prepared for the mud it comes with as well.

As sticky as it is, we are moving in the right direction, no matter how slow or fast, we are moving. I argue that as a cricketing nation, we are more united than we have ever been in our history. Yes, there’s a huge number of contrary comments or replies from members of our cricket community on social media and other mediums, but still, in big numbers, we are all actively participating in this much-needed conversation

What is in store for us on the other end of this stick is everything we wished for. We don’t wish to go back but we wish to move forward to being a cricket team that embodies what South Africa stands for, Ubuntu!

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