Mark Boucher looks forward to dealing with racism allegations

Proteas coach Mark Boucher. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Proteas coach Mark Boucher. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Published Jan 20, 2022

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Johannesburg - Proteas head coach Mark Boucher said on Thursday evening that he would cooperate with the inquiry into charges of misconduct that will be chaired by Adv, Terry Motau.

ALSO READ: Proteas coach Mark Boucher to face the music over Paul Adams ’brown sh*t’ song

“I look forward to dealing with and defending these allegations which have been made and will do so at the hearing in due course,” Boucher said.

“For now I am solely focused on my duties as head coach of the Proteas.”

ALSO READ: Cricket SA accept Enoch Nkwe's resignation as Proteas assistant coach

Cricket South Africa (CSA) appointed Motau to chair the disciplinary hearing into the conduct Boucher, who was fingered in the Social Justice and Nation Building report, earlier on Thursday.

Boucher, who was handed a charge sheet on January 17 containing allegations made against him, was strongly criticised in the final SJN report for trying to excuse or give reasons for calling his former teammate Paul Adams, ‘brown shit,’ as part of team song when the pair were in the SA side in the late 1990s.

ALSO READ: SJN Hearings: Paul Adams says Mark Boucher, other Proteas teammates called him a ‘brown sh*t’

The Transformation Ombudsman, Adv. Dumisa Ntsebeza, said in Boucher’s case it appeared that if he had undergone diversity and transformation training, that he was “apathetic towards diversity and transformation.

Motau has been involved in various legal inquiries in sport, mainly in local football, but is more famously known for heading up the team that conducted the forensic inquiry into the VBS scandal three years ago.

ALSO READ: SJN Report: AB de Villiers discriminated against Khaya Zondo on the basis of his race

“The (CSA) Board remains mindful of its duty to treat allegations of racism or discrimination with the utmost seriousness and in a manner that ensures fairness and due process in terms of South Africa’s Constitution and labour legislation,” said the chairperson of the organisation’s Board, Lawson Naidoo.

“It is now up to the inquiry to determine to which extent the allegations are true and justify the need for further disciplinary steps.”

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