By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) made public its report that followed the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearings this year that sought to address racism, discrimination, and exclusion in the game.
The report from Ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza can be seen in its 235-page entirety here.
Cricket South Africa unfairly discriminated against players on the basis of race, according to the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) commission’s final report.
The report recommends that a permanent ombudsman is appointed, funded and handed resources to deal with race and gender-based complaints and that CSA puts in place an anonymous grievance policy.
It does not have any consideration for reparations for those found to have been unfairly discriminated against but recommends that a permanent office considers if any reparations should be paid.
Ntsebeza’s findings include his assessment that the appointments of Proteas men’s head coach Mark Boucher and Director of Cricket Graeme Smith were both “flawed” procedurally.
Boucher has been in his role since December 2019, after Smith was first appointed to the DOC role in an interim capacity in the same month before taking on the position full-time in April 2020.
The report pointed to former CEO Thabang Moroe’s headhunting of Smith in 2019 as operating outside of CSA’s recruitment policy, while it was accepted that there was bias from Moroe towards Smith in a process that saw Corrie van Zyl, Hussein Manack and Dave Nosworthy also interviewed.
The report further points to Smith’s refusal to report to Moroe as showing “racial bias against black leadership at CSA”.
On Boucher’s appointment, Ntsebeza said Smith “did not follow any CSA policy” in appointing Boucher with no interviews conducted, while Boucher also did not possess the Level 4 coaching qualification required for the position.
The report says there was no clear reason as to why Boucher was the head coach position ahead of Enoch Nkwe, who had served as the Proteas team director in an interim capacity up until then.
CSA confirmed that the SJN process, which was initially supposed to last four months but ended up lasting over six months, cost the organisation R7.5 million. However, they felt the process was both necessary and productive. CSA said the issues facing cricket “are a complex interaction of multiple factors stemming from the history of this country and consequent socio-economic factors that prevail today.” They will engage with the report further in 2022.
No punitive action is being taken against anyone immediately, however.
“The board is still considering the report. It is a hefty document and needs a holistic response,” Lawson Naidoo, the CSA board chairperson.
No decisions have been taken on any issues raised in the report and it would be premature to speculate on any action that may be taken. The board has got to look at the report in its entirety and engage with it seriously. This will be a continuation of what we are already doing.
Overall, the SJN was an important process and that’s why the board backed it all the way. It is now the responsibility of the board to engage with the report.”