Three former South Africa cricketers, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Ethy Mbhalati, have been arrested in connection with a match-fixing scandal from the 2015-16 T20 Ram Slam Challenge.
The arrests happened after an investigation by the Serious Corruption Investigation Unit of the DPCI.
All three have been charged with five counts of corruption under Section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004.
The first investigations began when Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) anti-corruption unit had received reports of certain suspicious activities regarding former player Gulam Bodi in 2016. The investigations then revealed that Bodi had contacted multiple players in order to fix the results of three local T20 matches.
“Tsolekile and Tsotsobe were both charged with five counts of corruption under Section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (PRECCA). They both appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today, 29 November 2024, where their case was postponed to 26 February 2025 for disclosure,” Colonel Mogale was quoted as saying by InsideSport.
The trio is accused of accepting gifts to change the match’s result.
Mbhalati has already appeared before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, with his case postponed to February 20, 2025. Meanwhile, Tsolekile and Tsotsobe appeared in court on November 29, with their hearing adjourned to February 26, 2025, for disclosure proceedings.
Among the three accused, only Lonwabo Tsotsobe managed to compete for South Africa on an international level, whereas the other two remained limited to domestic cricket.
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