- Cricket SA's Cricket for Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) project ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza said he wouldn't have taken the job if his recommendations weren't going to be taken seriously.
- Ntsebeza has six months to wade through the various transformation matters that will arise from the SJN.
- Ntsebeza is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's commissioner.
Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Cricket for Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) project ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza said he would not have taken the job if CSA weren't serious about bringing his recommendations on board.
Ntsebeza, a human rights lawyer and was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) commissioner, said he felt there was a commitment from CSA's decision-makers to implement any recommendations will stem from the six-month project.
The SJN project came about at the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that swept around the world and engulfed South African cricket in the middle of last year after George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
"Do I sense that in the conversations I've had with CSA that there was commitment and an appetite to do this? To make sure the recommendations are implemented. I got that sense, otherwise, I wouldn't have taken the job," Ntsebeza said, who is going to undertake the project from next month.
"I don't think they would have made this appointment if they weren't confident in the first place, but one can't give any guarantees. Speaking for myself, I'll make recommendations, the nature of which will make it clear that the losses and the time that has been spent on this project should not have been in vain."
Ntsebeza said the enforcement of his recommendations when he completes his work is critical for the restorative justice journey the project seeks to embark on.
"There is no provision in the terms of reference or statute with regards to the recommendations I make and they remain just that; recommendations. Whatever recommendations I make must be enforced. I don't think they would have taken the opportunity to make this recommendation for this project to happen. It must be one that must be given an opportunity to make its recommendations and hopefully, for those recommendations to be urged to be accomplished," Ntsebeza said.
With CSA also being notorious for its inability to stick to its own recommendations, one of them being the Nicolson Report recommendations from 2012 regarding the composition of an independent heavy board, concerns with regards to implementation are genuine.
Ntsebeza was optimistic, saying the implementation of the SJN recommendations could have far-reaching effects on other sports in South Africa.
"I don't have a magic wand and I haven't been mandated to carry a big stick to go after people who have to be implementing the recommendations to get them to do things. I would hope that the nature of this project is that those who are going to be involved and who have recommendations directed to will rise to the occasion," Ntsebeza said.
"At the end of the day, this project is aimed at nation-building and social justice. It is a project that is aimed at unifying people, whether in this sport or in others.
"Cricketers and those who may be recalcitrant and administrators who could also be recalcitrant with regards to the recommendations did so, they could be setting a benchmark. What happens in cricket in this process and the implementation of whatever recommendations I make could stand as a benchmark for all sporting codes."