According to an ESPNcricinfo report, Tsotsobe, Tsolekile, and former Titans cricketer Mbhalati have been arrested and charged with five counts of corruption under Section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004.
The charges were laid following an investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), a special branch of the South African Police Service that investigates organised and economic crime.
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”.
The Act had come into action in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal in 2000. “It is understood that this is the first time it is being used to charge sportspersons with offences,” suggested the report.
A left-arm fast bowler, Tsotsobe played five Tests, 60 ODIs, and 23 T20Is between 2009 and 2014, while Tsolekile kept wicket in three Tests in 2004 when South Africa raised a few eyebrows by suddenly dropping Mark Boucher. Mbhalati had represented South Africa A.
The charges against the trio date back to the match-fixing scandal during the 2015-16 edition of the now-defunct Ram Slam Challenge. Cricket South Africa had banned them for their match-fixing attempts. The cases against them, however, have been postponed until February 2025.
[MATCH-FIXING] Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime arrested three (3) former South African cricket players, Ethy Mbhalati (43), Thamsanqa Tsolekile (44) and Lonwabo Lennox Tsotsobe (40), implicated in a match-fixing scheme during the 2015/2016 domestic T20 Ram Slam Challenge. pic.twitter.com/u6DigVl2MX
— South African Criminal Justice System (@RSA_CJS) November 29, 2024
Apart from the three, four others – Gulam Bodi, Alviro Petersen, Jean Symes, and Pumi Matshikwe – were accused of match-fixing charges. CSA banned all seven for periods between two and twelve years.
In 2019, Bodi became the first cricketer to be arrested under the Act, which had come into place in 2004. Symes (in 2021) and Matshikwe (2022) were given suspended sentences, though there is “no details of any actions” against Petersen yet.
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