Racism Found In Decision To Pass Over Black Cricket Coach

Photo: Eminetra

Johannesburg, Dec 15, 2021 (AFP) – The decision to pass over Enoch Nkwe to be the head coach of South Africa’s national cricket team has sparked controversy with some saying the decision was based on racism.

South African cricket legends Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and AB de Villiers were all found to have engaged in racially prejudiced conduct in a report by an independent ombudsman released on Wednesday.

Cricket South Africa made public a 235-page interim report by Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who headed a Social Justice and Nation Building Commission to investigate allegations of racial discrimination in South African cricket.

CSA board chairman Lawson Naidoo said the board would study the report and would “engage with it and its recommendations”.

Ntsebeza found that former Test captain Smith’s appointment as CSA’s director of cricket was irregular, although he did not attribute this to racial discrimination.

But he was critical of Smith’s decision to appoint Boucher as head coach of the national team ahead of Enoch Nkwe, a Black coach who served briefly as national team director, which he found was not in accordance with the organisation’s human resources policy.

“Mr Smith and CSA failed to rebut the presumption of unfair discrimination in the appointment of Mr. Boucher ahead of Mr. Nkwe,” according to the report. Read more.