The beauty of the game of cricket lies in its complexity, of which one becomes acutely aware when facing the difficulties of explaining the game to a newcomer. “It’s like baseball with two hitters,” is a familiar starting point, “except the ball bounces.” Ah, but what permutations lie behind that small qualification …
The terror of pace-bowling, the dodge of seam, the deception of swing, the guile of spin. From there one has to conduct the newcomer through the armoury of stroke play, explain the psychological pressures which can be summoned up by field placing and – perhaps the most difficult, but the most glorious of all – the philosophy which not only enthuses at the sight of a Klusener blazing away at the Aussies, like Doc Holliday with sawn-off shotgun at OK Corral, but which can have a team and its supporters walking away from a five-day match that has ended in a draw smiling in joy and glowing with pride.
Now, into this sublimely delicate fabric of rules, traditions and conventions, stumbles the Hansie Cronje match-rigging scandal with the rudeness of a drunk at a Punch and Judy show.
The reaction among fans could be panic: will the great game survive the venality and greed of the betting community? The answer is simple; as the likes of the bodyline and Kerry Packer “crises” have demonstrated in the past, the very complexity of the game seems to give it adaptability and strength not only to deal with a crisis, but to grow through the experience of it.
The Cronje scandal exists, of course, and has to be dealt with by the administrators of the game. It is also self-evident that it is part of a far greater malaise in the game at international level, but one which national bodies have been ducking with all the alacrity of cartoon ostriches diving into the sand. The opportunity has fallen to South Africa to take a lead in this respect and it should be firmly grabbed by the government and the United Cricket Board, both to make a contribution to the game and to demonstrate this country’s determination to take on corruption.
As for Cronje himself, the admission of lying must rule him out of the game for ever. He must pay back the team and the country for the damage he has done. There is a way for him to do that: it would be difficult to believe that a man of Cronje’s international reputation and status could have been corrupted without a wide knowledge of corruption in the game. It will, therefore, be to him that the commission of inquiry being set up by the government will first look to for help.
The passionate fan of cricket sees the game in many respects as a metaphor for life. In both style counts for much, if not everything. If the captain we admired so greatly should now take refuge behind lawyers, evasive tactics and engaging in squalid exploitation of technicalities, the judgment will be certain.
And it should be pointed out to Cronje that, with all due respect to his spiritual beliefs, there is no provision in the cricket rule book for players to be born again.
Clean up the SABC
The woes dogging the SABC should be seen not as an attack on the concept of a public broadcaster, but rather on the appallingly poor management that has brought the institution into disrepute. As a result, the SABC ranks as one of the biggest disappointments in our society since the transition to democracy in 1994.
The changes initiated under Zwelakhe Sisulu were undermined by weak management, toadying editorial content and corruption, particularly in the commissioning of programmes. The SABC has dealt commendably with this issue in demoting Molefe Mokgatle and Thaninga Shope as television CEO and corporate communications head respectively, and more investigations are in process.
But now the corporation is undergoing a second transformation and restructuring exercise, and the issues are more complex but no less critical. The challenge is to position the SABC favourably against the unfolding competition that multimedia technology brings.
Experience has taught us that restructuring exercises of this nature end up sidelining public service broadcasting institutions in favour of strict commercialism. Public service broadcasting and its attendant institutions throughout the world have come under increasing stress, and the SABC is no exception.
Even the mighty BBC emerged a weak and bruised corporation following the onslaught of Margaret Thatcher. The BBC’s ills originated in the 1980s, when it became fashionable to abandon the public service ethos in favour of the free market. Unfortunately, we in South Africa appear to be imbibing the same medicine.
Under the banner of rationalisation, corporatisation and privatisation, accountants and consultants have come to replace programme-makers and creative artists in deciding what makes it on to the screen.
Countries like ours without strong local content production supported by viable public service broadcasting institutions are doomed to be perpetual consumers of American entertainment.
The SABC should take a leaf out of the book of Japan’s NHK, the world’s most successful public service broadcaster, which sees its future as a major production house of Japanese television programme material for both the local and international markets. NHK runs head-to- head with powerful multinational companies such as Sony and Time Warner in the top 10 entertainment companies of the world.
We support the efforts of the new board in bringing about stability and good governance in the corporation and reinstating the SABC to the role that it should never have abandoned.
There is no better time for the SABC ship to be steered in a new direction – to clean up corruption, implement strict measures for financial accountability, bring in competent management and assert the corporation’s independence from all vested interests, especially editorial independence from the political establishment.