Makhaya Ntini, one amongst the 30 former South African cricketers to have come out in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, has alleged that he was isolated by his teammates, while opening up about racism.
Here are five components of the story:
- “Nobody knocked on my door to go for dinner. Teammates used to make plans right in front of me, skipping me out. When walking into the breakfast room, nobody came to sit with me,” said Ntini in an interview with South African Boradcasting Corporation.
- He had to overcome the isolation even though all the South African cricket players wore the same uniform and sang the same national anthem.
- Ntini said that instead of taking the team bus, he used to prefer running to the stadium in order to deal with the isolation. “People never understood why I did that, I never told them what I was trying to avoid. It became my best thing, I didn’t have to face any of it,” he said.
- “Whenever we won, it was joyful – but I was the first to be blamed whenever we lost,” said Ntini. “My son Thando has also experienced this, he was almost stopped from going on an U19 camp (on false pretenses),” he added.
- Former South Africa captain and star batsman Faf du Plessis, South African Cricketers’ Association and Cricket South Africa, have also expressed their solidarity with the fight against racism.
