Cricket South Africa announced on Tuesday that all charges against head coach Mark Boucher have been withdrawn, leading to the abandonment of a disciplinary hearing which was due to start on May 16.
The 45-year-old former Test wicketkeeper was facing charges of racism, laid by CSA, which could have resulted in his dismissal.
The controlling body admitted in a statement that there was “no basis to sustain any of the disciplinary charges”.
The allegations against Boucher followed Social Justice and Networking hearings last year into dis-crimination into cricket.
Boucher was accused by former teammate Paul Adams of leading a song with racially derogatory words during fines meetings after matches while they were playing.
Adams announced on Sunday that he was not prepared to testify at the hearing, stating his com-ments to the SJN ombudsman related to the overall culture of the team rather than any particular player.
CSA noted in its statement that Boucher had apologised to Adams and the apology had been accepted. It was also alleged that Boucher had sidelined his black assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, leading to Nkwe’s resignation, but Nkwe was also unwilling to testify at the planned hearings.
A further charge was that Boucher had failed to deal effectively with controversy over “taking the knee” in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Also read: Ombudsman finds Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and AB De Villiers showed racial prejudice CSA said its lawyers had consulted with other potential witnesses and concluded that none of the three charges were sustainable.
The recent exoneration of director of cricket Graeme Smith, who like Boucher had been the sub-ject of “tentative findings” by SJN ombudsman, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, “fortified the conclusion that the charges against Mr Boucher would be dismissed.”—AFP
