Question NW2650 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
13 December 2021 - NW2650
Madlingozi, Mr BS to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
With regard to the allegations that Cricket South Africa has on numerous occasions been racially profiling its members, what steps are being taken to compensate and rehabilitate players affected by racial profiling?
Reply:
During June/July 2020, noting the developments in the country with the Black Lives Matter (#BLM) campaign lead taken by National Cricket player Lungi Ngidi. That triggered many allegations of racial discrimination in cricket from other former Cricket Players like Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince and others, the Minister convened a meeting with sports persons who indicated their experiences of racism.
The Minister communicated with Cricket SA (CSA) to ascertain how Cricket was dealing with the matter.
Cricket South Africa responded to indicate that they developed the Integrated Transformation Strategy that was meant to ensure that players and stakeholders (including staff and fans) could raise their complaints and pro-actively address the scourge of racism and discrimination within their ranks. The Board’s intention was to deal with all matters of discrimination, racism, and privilege in cricket in general.
They indicated that in August 2020 the CSA Board approved the Cricket for Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) Concept proposed by the Transformation Committee.
The concept included the establishment of the Office of the Transformation Ombudsman, whose core function was to manage an independent complaints system, to deal with the complaints received from the ex-players and coaches, and any stakeholder in Cricket and convene National SJN hearings. The Office of the Transformation Ombudsman is a separate entity within CSA, with powers to make recommendations to the Board and is funded by the CSA.
Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza was appointed as the Ombudsman of the Cricket for Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) project. Hearings were held from 20 July 2021 to 29 October 2021.
According to CSA, the report from this independent panel is expected by 10 December 20201.CSA will then consider the recommendations on all matters that stems from this report