The Social Justice National-Building report delivered a damning verdict on former cricketers AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher, concluding that they discriminated against players racially. The report was 235 pages long and cost Cricket South Africa over six months and 7.5 million Rand ($500 million). CSA mentioned that it was necessary for them to do this and will continue with it in 2022 to make the sport fair for everyone.
Boucher had said in his testament that he used to sing songs that involved racial slurs and mentioned that a lot of the white South Africans during the late 90s were unaware of the line of sensitivity. This came into light after former spinner Paul Adams had mentioned that he was called “Bl*** s***” by his teammates.
He also went on to add that players who were accused or found to have used such racial slurs were never given any diversity and transformation training. Following Boucher’s retirement in 2012, it was believed that Thami Tsolekile was set to take over the keeping duties after he was given a contract during the England series.
But as it turns out, AB de Villiers ended up taking duties until the end of 2014, where Quinton de Kock came into the picture and took over. Tsolekile had played just 3 Tests for his national side, which came in as a bit of a surprise for the watching world.
“The decision of the panel was totally irrational and showed clear signs of systemic racism. CSA, Mr Graeme Smith and some selectors at the time really failed Mr Tsolekile and many black players of this time in many ways.”
the report reads.
Another such incident involves de Villiers not giving an opportunity in an ODI at the Wankhede for Khaya Zondo to enter the playing XI and instead giving the opportunity to Dean Elgar, who had just flown in to India for the Test series. With JP Duminy injured, Zondo seemed a like-for-like replacement, but much to everyone’s surprise, Elgar made the cut.
Although AB de Villiers denied the involvement of racial prejudice in this selection, he added that he will support the SJN report to ensure it reaches its ultimate goal, which is to make the sport free of any kind of discrimination.
