South Africa must be the only country where race classification is a norm in team selection in sport. In the ugly days if apartheid SA players had to be White to represent the country. That system started to change in the late 1970's but was not fully rooted out by 1994.
Nowadays you have racially-based norms for team selection - basically for teams like rugby, cricket and hockey - sports not participated in by the wider Black community - who basically concentrates on soccer as a code of sport. The norms does not apply to soccer - where it is virtually impossible for a White to make the National side.
In rugby there are often enough weird selections based on race and not competence. Nobody would argue about selection of players like Beast, Habana and Pietersen - but it is the other selections where race and not competence is the norm. There is also no complaint where players are assessed as of equal competence and where the players are then selected on a preference to Black players basis.
Evern though the Supreme Court has ruled that racial profiling is unconstitutional that norm has not reached the sporting bodies that pandered to politicians who wants to discriminate for the sake of political benefit for themselves.
The latest fiasco is in SA Cricket - where selections have never been really race-based because there always were top class players of colour that can make the grade. The problem is that there is no Blacks with the necessary credentials and competence to make the team since the retirement of Ntini there has never been a Black player in the SA team and the situation is now reaching alarming and totally unacceptable proportions,
With the retirement from test cricket of Kallis and the hand injury of AB de Villiers that puts a question mark over his wicket keeping duties - the fight is one to get Tsolekile into the team by hook or by crook. Tsolekile was in 2003 selected for 3 tests against India and failed miserably in the process - he really was so poor that it was impossible to retain him on racial grounds. At 33 he is no better than he was 11 years ago. It is assumed that in the present situation a wicket keeper needs to be able to bat as well - but despite the hype Tsolekile is really not an acceptable batter at all.
The latter is confirmed by the following stats:-
Tests - 9,40
First class cricket - 30,26
50 Overs game FC - 21,55
T20 FC - 23
The competing player is Quinton De Kock. His stats are as follows:-
First class cricket - 51,96
50 Overs game FC - 35,91
T20 FC - 36,23
Aside from the above De Kock have the following batting averages on international level-
ODI's - 46,31
T20 - 31
The matter could have been swayed in favour of Tsolekile if he was a better Wicket Keeper - but he is not and that is a fact of life proven on both international and domestic level.
The issue is also raising its ugly head in rugby - there are inexplicable raicial based selections on all levels of rugby in SA. On school rugby level there is a strict quota system - each provincial school team has to have 9 players of colour in the team irrespective of competence. The same principle is carried through to higher levels as well.
Even though the Supreme Court has ruled that racial profiling is unconstitutional it seems as if in sport that is not unconstitutional - or at least it is not considered as such by the sporting hierarchy running SA sport. It is an ugly system where race becomes the norm for selection. It seems as if SA has learnt nothing from the inequities of the past - it is alive and well in the present SA.
The problem is the issue of selections where there are severe racial selection malpractices. That stems from the so-called quota system that regulates the number of players per side to be selected as part of the system of advancement for Black Economic Empowerment where there are serious racial question marks.
