The Hawks is the branch of the South African Police Service which investigates organised crime, economic crime, corruption and other serious crime referred to it by the President or another division of the police.
It's perhaps unusual for this type of service to be involved in sports. Alas, it has now occured. They have now cracked down on three cricketers for corruption. These three includes: Ethy Mbhalati; Thami Tsolekile and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. They were arrested on November 18, 28 and 29, respectively.
These are charged for five counts of corruption under Section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004. Section 15 of the Act relates to corrupt activities relating to sporting events, including accepting or offering to accept any gratification from another person for engaging in any act which threatens to undermine the integrity of a sporting even or influence the run of play.
There are no details on any action against the seventh player, Alviro Petersen.
All seven players were also given bans of between two and 12 years by CSA (Cricket South Africa), related to their involvement in the game.
The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act came into effect in the aftermath of the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal in 2000 and it is understood that this is the first time it's being used to charge sportspersons with offences. Corruption undermines the integrity of sport, and the Hawks are determined to safeguard the values of fairness and professionalism in all areas of society. We thank Cricket South Africa for their cooperation and commitment to addressing this scourge
National Head of The Hawks, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, said in a statement, "Corruption undermines the integrity of sport, and the Hawks are determined to safeguard the values of fairness and professionalism in all areas of society. We thank Cricket South Africa for their cooperation and commitment to addressing this scourge."
The trio were arrested on different dates following an investigation by the serious corruption investigation component of the Hawks; which was investigating allegations reported in October 2016.
A Hawks spokesperson, Col. Katlego Mogale, said, "Mbhalati has since appeared in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court and the matter was postponed to February 20 2025 for further instructions. Tsolekile and Tsotsobe were both charged with five counts of corruption. They both appeared in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on Friday where their case was postponed to February 26 next year for disclosure."
"The matter was first reported by Cricket South Africa’s anti-corruption officer after suspicions of match-fixing emerged involving former Protea player, Gulam Bodi."
"Investigations revealed that Bodi approached several players to participate in fixing three T20 Ram Slam matches working in collusion with bookmakers from India. On that case, the Hawks ensured that Bodi was arrested in July 2018. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of corruption and was sentenced to five years direct imprisonment in October 2019," said Mogale.
In May 2021, Jean Symes, a former Lions cricketer, was also found guilty of one count of corruption and was sentenced to four years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.
The third accused, Pumi Matshikwe, a former cricketer who was arrested in February 2022, pleaded guilty to one count of corruption and was sentenced to six years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.
At the time of initial investigation, CSA said none of the matches in the tournament were affected by fixing after the conspirators' plans were foiled. It has since been established that Bodi, in collusion with bookmakers from India, approached several players to participate in fixing three matches in the tournament and also understood that none of the fixes actually took place.
I'm absolutely baffled by all this. I was aware of this scandal. However, I wasn't aware of The Hawks involvement. It's amazing to see just how far a simple case of match fixing can go. Yes, there is the case of the three Pakistani cricketers going to prison for a similar act (https://www.nicklieberthal.com/blog/history-rewind-the-one-where-three-cricketers-went-to-prison) but I thought that that was a one time thing.
All I can say is that they deserve to go to jail. The game of cricket is both fascinating and beautiful. It shouldn't be tampered with. There's no room for anyone for bringing the game into disrepute.