The former South Africa left-arm pacer bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who was part of the Protea side in 89 international games across formats to pick up 121 wickets, has been arrested and charged with five counts of corruption under Section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act in 2004.
Tsotsobe has come under the charge along with the former wicket-keeper batter for South Africa, Thami Tsolekile, who made his appearances in three red-ball clashes in 2004 against India and England, and the Titans’ right-handed batter, Nkateko Mbhalati, who has been part of 129 first-class games to pick up 364 wickets at an average of 28.
All of them have been charged under section 15 of the Act, which relates to corrupting the activities relating to the sporting events, which include the act of accepting or offering to accept any gratification from another person for engaging in any act that threatens to undermine the integrity of a sporting event or influence the run of play.
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All of the charges have come from the past event when he was surrounded by the match-fixing saga during the 2015-16 Ram Slam Challenge. Three of these players are among the seven, including Ethy Mbhalati, Pumelela Matshikwe, and Jean Symes, to be banned by Cricket South Africa during 2016-17 for their involvement in fixing the matches for the domestic T20 tournament.
South African player Lonwabo Tsotsobe arrested and charged with corruption
Gulam Bodi has already served his time in prison, while Jean and Pumi were given suspended sentences after being addressed guilty during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively. The cases against Tsotsobe, Tsolekile, and Mbhalati are postponed until February 2025.
However, there are no details of the charges against the seventh player of the whole incident, the former opening batter for South Africa, Alviro Petersen. All of these seven players were also given bans of between two and 12 years by the CSA related to their involvement in the game.
The last encounter for Tsotsobe came in 2015, when he faced the Titans in Benoni for a 20-over game, playing for the Lions. The 44-year-old Petersen is the only member of the group to have a strong career for the Proteas, as he collected 2093 runs in 36 red-ball games at an average of around 35 with the help of five centuries and eight half-centuries at the best score of 182 runs.
The Cape Town-born, recently, featured in the Legends League in 2022 in India. The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act came into effect in the aftermath of the Hansie Cronje scandal of match-fixing in 2000, and it’s understood that this is the first time it has been used over the sportsperson with offenses.
The charges have been laid on the players of South Africa following an investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), known as the Hawks, the special branch of the police service of South Africa that investigates economic and organized crime.
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“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 national head of DPCI, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, issued the statement.
During their investigation time, CSA addressed that none of the matches in the event were affected by the fixing. The bookmakers of Indi, Bodi, approached the players to participate in the scandal of fixing three games, but none of the fixes took place, as the reports suggest.