Johannesburg - The Social Justice and Nation Building report was handed to Cricket SA’s Board of Directors on Friday evening the organisation’s chairman, Lawson Naidoo confirmed.
The report will be made public in due course, once the Board has completed its deliberations. A number of deadlines were missed as CSA’s transformation ombudsman, Adv Dumisa Ntsebeza initially provided more time for responses to testimonies made in the opening oral hearings in July.
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Subsequent deadlines at the end of November and the first week of December were also missed as the report was being finalised.
“We’ll be looking at it over the next few days, and then release it publicly shortly thereafter,” Naidoo said on Saturday.
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 was a financial element to consider too, with the whole process now well over the R5-million originally budgeted for the SJN.
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.
The hearings, which ran for four months rocked South African cricket to its core with heartbreaking testimonies 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 came in for criticism 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.
Meanwhile CSA’s Board is also deliberating the findings of an inquiry into the reasons behind Enoch Nkwe’s resignation as the Proteas’ assistant coach in August. Nkwe had outlined his dissatisfaction with "the functioning and culture" of the Proteas environment.
“That report is before the board at the moment,” said Lawson. “We are still discussing it, and determining the next steps.”
He didn’t know if any action related to that report would be taken before the Test series with India that starts in two weeks time.
“The issue is that there has to be a proper process that is put in place. We have to consider the report in its entirety and then decide what the appropriate steps might be,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo also explained that CSA’s search for a full time CEO remains “a work in progress.”
“It is a difficult position to fill,” he remarked. “The priority of the board is to get the right person for the job. As much as we would liked to have had this done already, we can’t force these issues.”
Pholetsi Moseki has filled the role in an acting capacity for nearly a year. Cricket SA advertised for the position in July, with a final deadline for application extended to August 10. Naidoo said it was unlikely that the Board would re-advertise for the position.
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