South Africa Government lifts ban imposed on CSA

The South African government has lifted the ban they imposed on Cricket South Africa (CSA) last year regarding their status of hosting global events. The upliftment of ban is seen as a result of Eminent Persons Group (EPG) presenting a transformation report to the government on May 9.

Incidentally, South Africa anyway has no chance of hosting any global ICC event till the yeat 2023 since hosting rights for major tournaments have already been assigned. Prior to the presentation of the report, Haroon Lorgat, the CEO of CSA had shown his optimism regarding the upliftment of the ban.

In a conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Lorgat has quoted, “We are optimistic of achieving good outcomes but we would not want to pre-empt anything at this stage. Regardless, we are committed to transformation and we will continue to engage with the ministry and other stakeholders to ensure we achieve our transformation goals.”

Talking about the EPG, it is an independent committee that is responsible for assessing the sporting codes of various sports in South Africa. Earlier in April 2016, the ban was imposed on the South African cricket board along with the Rugby and the Netball federations. The ban came into effect as the government found these boards not being able to create enough opportunities for players of the colored skin. The then-Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula had imposed the ban.

“I have therefore resolved to revoke the privilege of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA) and South African rugby (SARU) to host and bid for major and mega international tournaments,” Mbalula had quoted back then.

Now, as per the recent reports, the CSA has successfully managed to cross the minimum requirements for the equal representation of black players in the national setup. Also, they have created more opportunities for players of colored skin in the last one year. Hence, the ban had now been uplifted and South Africa has the rights to host global cricket tournaments again.