Johannesburg — Another day, another extension for the Cricket SA’s Social Justice and Nation Building report, which will now be delivered to CSA’s Board of Directors on Friday.
It is the fourth extension granted to the Transformation ombud, Adv. Dumisa Ntsebeza and his team, indicating the mountain of work they’ve had to get through.
The original date for the report’s delivery was September 30, but that date was changed to accommodate responses from those who had been named in the original phase of the Ombudsman’s oral testimonies which were conducted in July and August.
The next deadline was November 30, which was extended by one week to December 6, with the extra four days, the newest deadline for delivery.
Ntsebeza had mentioned on a number of occasions that he didn’t feel he had been given sufficient time to conduct his inquiry. For CSA, there’s a financial element too, with the whole process now well over the R5-million originally budgeted for the SJN.
The SJN process rocked South African cricket to its core as months of heartbreaking testimony was heard, fingering a number of prominent personalities and also showing deep divisions that existed in the sport from administrative to playing level.
The national and local government were fingered on many occasions as well, and while Sports Minister, Nathi Mthethwa has on occasion pointed out that CSA’s handling of the report will be monitored, the same holds true for his department and local government councils around the country.
Ntsebeza’s report will make recommendations, although it is understood that CSA is not bound to implement them. However there is likely to be some form of action taken based on what the report contains.
The report will be made public once the Board has studied its contents.
The SJN project was established last year 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.
IOL Sport