Madeleine Anne Hiltermann is not a name readily associated with South African cricket, but she may well change the lives of dozens of young cricketers forever — and she will do so from the grave.
Hiltermann left over R3,5-million in her will to the Jacques Kallis Scholarship Foundation.
The Cape Town spinster’s contribution to cricket deserves at least the same recognition and congratulation that Cricket South Africa (CSA) afforded itself this week.
CSA turned a projected loss of about R75-million in the past financial year into a profit of R5-million and increased its reserves to R134-million, which prompted its president, Mtutuzeli Nyoka, into a near praise song: ”… our organisation is like a masterpiece, a sporting Rembrandt, created with unstinting care and exceptional talent,” he said. Fine behind closed doors, but not really the stuff of press releases.
Hiltermann, lived a humble and modest life alone in a small cottage in Newlands before her life ended tragically last year after a fall down her stairs. Yet her bank accounts were anything but modest, as a cancer hospice and two churches recently discovered.
The other major beneficiary was the foundation formed in 2006 by Kallis and his manager, Dave Rundle, which aims to give five promising youngsters each year from disadvantaged backgrounds not only a sporting chance but a first-class education, too.
Talented boys from all over the country are sent to one of four traditional cricket schools — Maritzburg College, Pretoria Boys High, Selborne or Kallis’s alma mater, Wynberg Boys High — until they matriculate. So far, 19 have done so and every one them is quick to acknowledge the chances they have been given by the country’s greatest all-rounder.
Hiltermann, who never spoke of her wealth let alone flaunted it, only met Kallis once, but she was sufficiently moved by the simplicity and sincerity of his intentions to put the foundation on a secure financial footing for a decade or more if not in perpetuity.
”My mother died when I was very young, which meant I always needed an extra bit of help with school and cricket because Dad was working,” Kallis says. ”A lot of people helped me and continued to do so after Dad died in 2003. I know how much a bit of help can mean to people and I haven’t forgotten. That’s all I wanted to do — just give people a bit of help and the chances I was lucky enough to have.”
”It costs the foundation about R45 000 per boy per year,” said Rundle, ”so it’s a significant commitment. We have a couple of money-raising projects, but also rely heavily on our sponsors and patrons. But Hiltermann has changed the whole landscape. With careful management we can not only secure the foundation, but even expand to give more guys a good education,” Rundle said.
Last week saw the annual Foundation Golf Day at De Zalze near Stellenbosch and this year’s five scholarship recipients, aged between 14 and 17, were there with their mentor, sharing a table and many words of fellowship. Kallis has been accused of being unforthcoming by some international teammates and even of being a ”loner”. His interaction with his protégés has been nothing less than patriarchy of the noblest kind.
The foundation began with luke-warm support from Western Province who, contrary to tradition, charged Kallis nearly R120 000 in rent for Newlands when he staged his benefit match against a Proteas XI five years ago. Nonetheless, he donated every cent of the approximate R800 000 raised to the foundation. Kallis has since moved his personal enterprise to the Eastern Cape Warriors and CSA have, to its great credit, recognised the enormity of his contribution to the betterment of the game and thrown their support behind the foundation.
Bhoteki Mbombe matriculated from Wynberg last year, having been spotted in Limpopo three years ago. With the help of the Kallis Foundation, he is now studying sports management at Stellenbosch University. ”It has been an incredible journey and one that I owe to Jacques,” he told his audience last week. ”My cricket career is a work in progress, but what I have learned is that education is more important and I am working on them both equally hard.”
CSA and its affiliates have spent over R250-million on transformation in the past decade and much of it has been squandered to political correctness. Sometimes, like it or not, there simply isn’t the interest or desire in certain regions of the country to make cricket ”happen”.
Kallis makes it happen for those who want it and who demonstrate both ability and desire. And thanks to a little old lady who was known to none of the current or future Kallis scholars, Protea cricket might well become strong enough to sustain its current number one ranking — in both forms of the game — for many, many years to come.