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The Mpumalanga Cricket Union (MCU) has been accused by a member club and a player of sweeping an alleged racism incident in the team under the carpet.
Instead of addressing the alleged incident, the union suspended both the victim and his club.
This followed an incident in which a white player allegedly called an opposing black player the K-word during a premier league club match between Lowveld Cricket Club and Hilaria Spiders Cricket Club at Penryn in Nelspruit on 28 October last year.
Spiders captain Gerald Ngwenyama said in a report to the provincial governing body that he had grabbed his Lowveld counterpart, Alex Kok, by the grill of his helmet after the latter made a racist remark at him.
After the scuffle, the game went ahead as if nothing had happened, but the news spread quickly and Ngwenyama’s team immediately lodged a complaint.
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On 31 October, MCU club cricket coordinator Nokubonga Dickmolo asked Ngwenyama to send a written report of the incident.
Ngwenyama replied to Dickmolo that same day, saying he was struggling to deal with the issue.
He wrote to Dickmolo in an email, which City Press has seen:
Shortly after this, Spiders director and player Vusi Mathebulu asked the MCU to investigate the matter.
Later that day, MCU president Craig Nel responded to Mathebula, saying the union took the allegations seriously and committing to an investigation.
On 4 November, Dickmolo emailed Ngwenyama stating that the union wanted him to send the report by the end of business on 7 November.
Dickmolo copied MCU CEO Jaco Visagie in her email. Ngwenyama sent his report to Dickmolo on 6 November and also copied Visagie.
HOW THE INCIDENT UNFOLDED
In his report, which City Press has also seen, Ngwenyama said he had been fielding when Kok walked to the crease.
Before the game, Ngwenyama said he had been told by mutual friends that Kok had mocked his bowling and badmouthed him at family meetings.
“I took the opportunity to inform Alex that I was aware of how he had spoken about me in the Rhinos camp. I said: ‘It’s been a tough season for you so far, mate, and I hope you can back up all the things you’ve been running your mouth on about me during tours.’
“Alex then mumbled a response, which went like this: ‘F****n k****r, always causing k*k!’, which made me approach him and ask him to repeat his statement.
“He said: ‘Yeah, I did say that you bowl k*k, so what are you going to do about it?’”
At this point, wrote Ngwenyama, he and Kok had to be separated by their team-mates.
He stated that Mathebula, the wicketkeeper during the match, could corroborate his story, as he heard Kok’s words from close range.
“Vusi then pulled me aside and said he’d heard what Alex said, but that I shouldn’t give him the satisfaction [of reacting physically] right now. Instead, I should continue playing and then we’d report the matter through the proper channels,” read his report.
“So the game continued with cricket banter from both sides, as I dropped Alex twice after the incident. He kept saying: ‘Great catch!’ and I kept saying: ‘He’s batting on a third life.’”
Ngwenyama said that, when he was batting, a few of the Lowveld players “chirped on, saying ‘Alex, los die swart kant. Hou jou wit kant skoon.’”
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He wrote that he had told Mathebula that he would respond to the matter through the legal route, as he had been a victim of racism and hate speech.
However, despite sending his report and receiving a promise that the MCU would investigate the matter, “up until today, I still don’t know what the outcome of that investigation is”.
He added that he had since been taken out of the Rhinos setup (for underperforming).
Ngwenyama said it was not the first time he had suffered racism at the hands of Kok.
PLAYER AND CLUB SUSPENDED
On 14 November, Visagie emailed the Spiders and Ngwenyama and served them with a notice of suspension.
Mathebula replied to Visagie asking why Kok had not been suspended and whether he had been asked to send a report, like Ngwenyama.
When the Spiders asked why they had been suspended because of the actions of an individual player (Ngwenyama), Johan Cornelius, president of match officials at the MCU, gave them a different reason for the suspension.
Cornelius said the team had been suspended because their player, Andrew Letswele, after being given out, apparently hit the stumps with his bat on his way off the crease.
However, Spiders players who were at the match told City Press that Letswele had not done this.
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Since Spiders and Ngwenyama reported the 28 October racial incident, they have been barred from playing in the MCU league.
Kok is the captain of both the Lowveld teamand the Mpumalanga Rhinos, who play in Cricket SA’s division 2. Kok and Ngwenyama played together at the Rhinos last season.
However, Ngwenyama, who first played for Mpumalanga in 2013, is not part of the Rhinos this season, as an academy contract signing him to the team was not renewed.
Visagie did not respond to questions sent to him on Friday. Yesterday, when asked when he would be able to respond, he said he had connectivity issues.
“I will respond on Monday,” he said.
