JOHANNESBURG – Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza decried the limited time made available to the Social Justice and Nation Building project as it attempts to get to grips with transformation in South African cricket.
Responding to Sipho Nondlwana, who has worked in development structures at the Eastern Province and Border Cricket unions, and who had himself pointed out the time constraints on the commission, Ntsebeza said his unhappiness with the limited amount of time given to the project, would be contained in his final report.
“What you expressed as an astonishment,” Netsebeza told Nondlwana, “that this thing can be done in six months time, has my support. I have made it very clear that we are working under very constraining conditions, because Covid-19 or no Covid 19, this is the kind of thing that (should) probably have been accommodated in a much more significant way by some kind of roadshow.”
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The SJN project was established last year by Cricket SA after a call by Lungi Ngidi for the Proteas to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, exposed an undercurrent of racism within South African cricket,
It was supposed to start hearings in May, but was initially delayed owing to what were described as “significant legal and fiduciary risks,” which both Cricket SA and the Ombud had to consider. The hearings started on July 5.
Ntsebeza and his assistants completed their 15th day of hearings on Monday. Witness testimonies were supposed to have been finished last week, but Ntsebeza announced last Friday that the dates for testimonies had been extended until August 6.
Ntsebeza must submit a report to Cricket SA’s Board of Directors by the end of September. In addition, according to the commission’s Terms of Reference, he is supposed to provide updates to the Board at the end of July and August.
“I am an independent ombudsman, but I’ve still got principle, and I will bring it to the attention as well as it will go into our final report...that there were time constraints put on the ombudsperson in discharging properly, the duty that they had to discharge,” Ntsebeza remarked.
This week’s hearings will mainly deal with testimonies from club and provincial officials. Besides Nondlwana, Vusi Mathebula from Mpumalnga and Rajan Moodaley from the Eastern Cape, testified as to the gaps that existed in the broader local cricket structure between the clubs on the ground and the hierarchy at Cricket SA and to the shortcomings that are faced at provincial level, where proper procedure is often not followed.
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On Friday the SJN will hear from former Proteas batsman, Ashwell Prince and umpire Sinethemba Mjekula.
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