Four South African cricketers, including former Test wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile, have been handed bans by Cricket South Africa for breaching the board’s Anti-Corruption Code. While Tsolekile has been banned for 12 years, Jean Symes has been given a seven-year ban, and Ethy Mbhalati and Pumelela Matshikwe have each been given ten-year bans in relation to the 2015 Ram Slam T20 fixing case.
All four players have accepted the bans given by CSA. The bans imposed on the players, effective from August 1, 2016, prevent them from participating or being involved in cricket in any capacity.
Symes, Matshikwe and Tsolekile were all previously contracted with Lions, while Mbhalati was contracted to Titans.
Tsolekile, who captained Lions previously and has played three Tests for South Africa, was sanctioned for “contriving to fix a match or matches in the 2015 Ram Slam; failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption Officer the full details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct”. He was also banned for “failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and obstructing or delaying the investigation by destroying evidence that was relevant to the investigation”.
Symes, an allrounder, was banned for failing to disclose to the anti-corruption unit a payment “which he knew or ought to have known was given to him to procure a breach of the Code”, according to a CSA release. He has also been charged with “failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code; failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and failing to co-operate with the investigators by knowingly providing false information to them”.
Mbhalati and Matshikwe have been banned for: “Receiving a payment or incentive to fix or contrive to influence improperly a match or matches in the 2015 RAM SLAM; making a payment which in the circumstances would bring the sport of cricket into disrepute; failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption officer a payment which they knew or ought to have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code; failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct and failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant.”
The CSA release stated that Matshikwe had three years of his ban suspended.
CSA made its investigation into the allegations of fixing in the Ram Slam competition public last December. In January former cricketer Gulam Bodi was banned for 20 years after he admitted to contriving or attempting to fix matches during the 2015 Ram Slam T20 series.
The board’s investigation was headed by independent attorney and former ICC Head of legal, David Becker, and former police Colonel and current head of CSA’s Anti-Corruption Unit, Louis Cole.
CSA’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat said that while there was no evidence to suggest that an “actual fix in a match had been carried out”, the players had participated in “material discussions about match-fixing”.
“Corruption is a very serious matter and for this reason we have devoted extensive time and resources to fully investigate every shred of evidence,” Lorgat said in the statement. “We are still finalising certain aspects of the investigation.
