Mark Boucher charges raise questions

It is not in dispute that cricket in South Africa is carrying massive psychological and emotional baggage from the damage wrought by overt and covert racism during the apartheid years and way beyond.

That much emerged in the hearings which led to the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) report, commissioned by Cricket South Africa (CSA). There needs to be a reckoning, or an accounting – if for no other reason than the air must be cleared and the victims of racism be allowed to find closure.

If need be, then heads must roll. Yet, why does CSA think that the time to start this process is now, right after the Proteas have beaten India in a Test series and gone one-up in the ODI challenge? How is a team supposed to focus when its coach, Mark Boucher, is being brought up on disciplinary charges in relation to the SJN report?

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Whatever view you have of Boucher, this development will undoubtedly cause some disruption and will dent team morale.

Given that the cricket authorities have taken so long to deal with the racism elephant in the room, why is there now so much haste?

The only people this suits will be Virat Kohli and the Indian team.