Former Proteas batting consultant Jaques Kallis incorrectly claims ‘rules’ prohibited him from being involved in any coaching capacity in South Africa.
Kallis was appointed as the Proteas’ batting consultant for a short period of the 2019-20 season, upon the recommendation of his former captain and friend, Graeme Smith, who had just taken the reins as director of cricket.
However, Cricket South Africa had, following consultation with Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa in August 2020, subsequently prohibited the appointment of white consultants – that is, unless there are no suitable black or brown candidates.
Kallis cited this as the reason he decided to take up the same role with England.
‘I wasn’t allowed to be involved because Cricket South Africa said there would be no more white consultants, so unfortunately that fell away,’ Kallis said.
Kallis lamented the situation, but claims to understand why this policy is in place.
‘I suppose it’s the way of our country – a lot of players have fallen away because of needing people of colour involved,’ he said.
‘It’s tough, but we understand where it comes from. It’s the modern way of the world. It’s sad in a way that I can’t help out in South Africa, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my time in the England set-up.’
Kallis is incorrect in his assertion that he can’t be involved. While CSA had resolved to hire black and brown consultants, it didn’t prohibit him from applying for any jobs that became available with any of the national teams. Evidence of this is that both Neil McKenzie and Dillon du Preez applied and got the jobs as the Proteas batting coach and national women’s team’s assistant (both full-time roles), respectively.
Furthermore, the interim board, who took over control of CSA following the fallout of the Fundudzi report, on 3 January said that: ‘The entire [transformation targets] document adopted by the previous board has been put on hold.’ This freed up Kallis, whose contract expired in March 2020, to apply for whatever jobs became available.
Asked if he was aware of this, Kallis said: ‘I haven’t heard anything like that’.
Kallis further claims to have been ‘blocked’ from working with Proteas players on an informal basis. ‘Unfortunately there was that rule, so it was pretty much taken out of my hands,’ he said.
