Dear Mr.

Lorgat
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Proteas on their T20 and ODI series
victories. These are significant milestones given the quality of opposition on display
and the difficulty that often confronts travelling teams in India. I trust the Proteas
will continue to display tenacity, excellent skills and mental fortitude for the
upcoming tests.
The purpose of this letter is to address a fundamental problem in the national team.
The quality of opportunity afforded to black African players. To be called to
represent your country is an honor. It represents the enormous amount of time and
hard work that has been invested to refine ones talent. However, historically and
more recently the call-up has acted to erode the black cricketers human dignity and
self-esteem. They have been pushed to the margins to become hewers of wood
and drawers of water. There is a mistrust of black African players ability to perform
and assume responsibility and be charged with leadership roles. The mistrust runs
through our societys fabric and cricket has served to reinforce the mistrust. At the
national level black African players have become a political pawn and official drinks
carriers. Below, I have listed a number of instances that show the mistrust of black
African players:

Khaya Zondo is the latest victim of this unfair and unjust treatment. Khaya
Zondo was the reserve batsman on the current tour in India. When JP Duminy
got injured, in a fair and just world (or national team) Khaya Zondo would
have replaced him. Firstly, the team changed to account for JPs injury.
Secondly, Dean Elgar was flown in as a reserve Batsman and played ahead of
Khaya. Logical cricket explanations were given. Moreover, these
explanations are often used to justify the exclusion of black African players. A
number of questions arise, how does Khaya Zondo feel? Was he there as a
quota? Why select him if he not ready to represent his country? Why
humiliate him by calling in a reserve batsman, when he is the reserve?
Aaron Phangiso was selected to go to the world cup, however He did not play
a single game. I will not restate the arguments. However, why take him to
Bangladesh if he is not part of your short, medium or long term plan? Was our
institution setting him up for failure? Or was this compensation for what went
down at the world cup? Why does he seem to be the official drinks carrier for
the national team?
Lonwabo Tsotsobe his record speaks for itself. But outspoken characters in
our national team are sidelined. Black voices are being suppressed. We have
to fit in on other peoples terms. Our being as humans is undervalued,
underappreciated and completely disregarded.
Thami Tsolekile was selected as a replacement to Boucher. Boucher gets
injured, and de Villiers now wants to take the gloves after declaring to the
world that he wants to focus on his batting. Why select Thami Tsolekile if he
could not perform the same or better than Boucher? Did the institution need
an official drinks carrier in Thami? Was he a quota? I guess there must have
been a logical cricket reason.

Another example is Makhaya Ntini. His exit out the national was filled with
controversy regarding wages, among other things. Makhayas peers Kallis,
Smith & Boucher had heroic exits out the national team.

We as black Africans players want an end to this unfair and unjust treatment. The
current principle and internal logic in the proteas is deeply flawed. We want an end
to the dehumanization of black African cricketers. We no longer want to be seen in
security guard clothing at the cricket fields. We reject being drawers of water. We
want no favours. If we are not ready for international cricket then do not
dehumanize us by taking on trips for meal monies and to be official drinks carriers
thats what Powerade is there for. We want merit selection and be sure when you
calls us it is when it is time to go on to the playing field. Do not announce us in
squads unless we are part of the playing Xi.
We look forward to your responses regarding the aforementioned issues.
#Drinkscarriersmustfall
Regards,
Black cricketers in Unity