Graeme Smith cleared of racism allegations

Smith was accused of racial discrimination during his tenure as CSA's director of cricket and as South Africa captain but was cleared by two independent arbitrators

Former South Africa captain and Cricket South Africa director of cricket, Graeme Smith, has been cleared of racism allegations.

A report by the Social Justice and Nation-Building commission previously found Smith to have engaged in conduct that was discriminatory on the basis of race.

However, two independent arbitrators – Ngwako Maenetje SC and Michael Bishop – found no proper evidence to support the allegations of racial discrimination:

1. against former wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile between 2012 and 2014, when Tsolekile was nationally contracted but not selected for the Test team. AB de Villiers was instead preferred as Mark Boucher’s successor with the gloves.

2. against black leadership at CSA after it was alleged he refused to work with former CEO Thabang Moroe.

3. in the appointment of Boucher over Enoch Nkwe as national men’s coach in 2019.

^{Mark Boucher's appointment as head coach was one of the decisions under scrutiny [Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images]}

Smith’s tenure with CSA has already come to an end, with the 41-year-old opting not to reapply for the position of director of cricket after his contract expired on March 31.

"The manner in which these issues have been dealt with and resolved by the arbitration proceedings confirms CSA’s commitment to deal with the SJN issues in a manner that treats them with utmost seriousness but also ensures fairness, due process and finality," said CSA board chair, Lawson Naidoo.

"Now that finality on these processes has been reached, it is appropriate to recognise the extraordinary contribution that Graeme has made to South African cricket, first as the longest-serving Test captain in cricket history and then as director of cricket from 2019 to 2022.

"His role as the DoC has been critical in rebuilding the Proteas men’s team in particular and has laid a solid foundation for his successor."

Smith added: "I'm grateful that my name has finally been cleared. I've always given South African cricket my utmost, as a player, captain and administrator, over the last 20 years.

"So, to hear these baseless allegations of racism being made has been extremely difficult, both for me and my family. It has been exhausting and distracting, not least because South African cricket has also been going through a well-publicised rebuilding process which has required a lot of attention.

"I'm just pleased that we have now gone through a robust arbitration process before independent, objective arbitrators and I have been completely vindicated."

CSA has been ordered to pay all the costs associated with the arbitration process.

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