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Mbalula lauds CSA quota policy

Johannesburg - While cricket continued to prosper, development remained a priority, sports minister Fikile Mbalula said at CSA’s annual general meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday.

"After the challenges cricket in South Africa faced, it has emerged much stronger," Mbalula said, referring to the bonus scandal and eventual sacking of CEO Gerald Majola last year.

"From all the debates on corporate governance, it is now one of the better-managed sporting codes and has been able to move forward.

"I now invite you to join us in our journey to develop the sport in earnest and not just pay lip-service to development at grassroots levels," he said.

Mbalula congratulated Haroon Lorgat on being appointed CSA’s new CEO and for the job CSA had done in restoring public confidence in the sport.

"Our national team, in particular, has made us proud and we need to applaud them for their achievements and for being the number one test team in the world.

"We are living in exciting times and I’m confident we can take this sport to greater heights."

He said cricket had government's support.

"But to me, development is important and we need to theorise and define plans.

"It is time to walk the talk and put those plans into action," he said.

With regard to transformation, cricket had embraced talent from all spheres and not shied away from selecting players of colour who had performed well in the national team.

"In comparison with other sports, cricket has come to the party.

"Without quotas in place, the national team has identified no less than five competent, on-merit players participating in the national side -- and that has happened without anybody calling for quotas.

"The question, however, is where are Africans in all of this?

"They are there but we need to correct the balance and build confidence going into the 2015 World Cup," he said.

However, Mbalula said cricket was on the right path and not doing badly considering what it wanted to achieve.

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