Cricket South Africa Withdraws Disciplinary Charges Against Mark Boucher | Cricket News

Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday released an official statement saying that there is “no basis to sustain” any of the disciplinary charges, including charges of racism, against men’s team head coach Mark Boucher. “The Board of CSA has therefore formally and unreservedly withdrawn all of the charges,” read the official communication from the board. The CSA board has now taken the decision to formally withdraw all of the disciplinary charges against Boucher.

“CSA concluded that there was no basis to sustain any of the charges against Boucher. CSA has therefore withdrawn the charges and will contribute towards his legal costs,” the stated further stated.

CSA and Boucher have discussed the way forward and committed themselves to an open dialogue and engagement in order to promote the best interests of South African cricket so as to achieve CSA’s strategic goals of access, inclusivity and excellence.

In December 2021, the CSA Board had received the report from the independent Social Justice & Nation-Building (SJN) Ombudsman, Adv Dumisa Ntsebeza SC.

This particular report stated “tentative findings” regarding Boucher but because the Ombudsman stated that he was not in a position to make “definite findings”, he recommended that further formal processes take place to achieve finality on these issues.

The CSA board had then resolved to institute formal proceedings as per the SJN Report’s recommendations and it gave all parties involved, including Boucher, a chance to respond to the allegations and fully state their case.

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“The charge sheet against Boucher ultimately included the tentative finding made by the SJN Ombudsman, as well as issues arising from CSA’s own internal enquiry following the resignation of the Proteas assistant coach, Enoch Nkwe,” stated the release.

Lawson Naidoo, Chair of the CSA Board, commented: “CSA has at all times been committed to dealing with the SJN issues in a manner that treats them with utmost seriousness but also ensures fairness, due process and finality. The decision to withdraw the charges brings about finality on these issues for CSA and Mark and allows the focus to return to the cricket field – where we trust that Mark and the Proteas will go from strength to strength.”