Johannesburg – Earlier this year, cricket administrators agreed to set up an inquiry in their efforts to exorcise the ghosts of the past that have seen the sport’s credibility being dragged through the mud.
This followed allegations of racial discrimination, bias and exclusion of mainly black players, especially in the past.
Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) appointed a transformation ombudsman in advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who from the start of his work in April, assured all and sundry, perpetrators and victims that the cricket truth and reconciliation commission was established to investigate gross human rights violations perpetrated during the period of the apartheid regime.
But not without controversy, as early as May, Ntsebeza went public, shockingly announcing that the national cricket controlling body’s interim board was divided when it took a decision to stop the public hearings 12 hours before the scheduled start.
“Then I got shocked [again] when one of the board members said why must this thing [hearings] be public in any event,” Ntsebeza was quoted during a radio interview.
“And then I said ‘look it is a no brainer’.
Whoever is listening right now or who cares to listen‚ there is no way that I am going to be associated with a process that is not accessible to the public,” said Ntsebeza.
The no-nonsense Ntsebeza got his way and the hearings were made public.
Corruption at CSA by a number of current and former administrators was also laid bare during the probe.
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