Ex-Titans cricketer Ethy Mbhalati handed suspended sentence over 2015 match-fixing scandal

Former Titans cricketer Ethy Mbhalati has been given a five-year suspended sentence for his part in the 2015 match-fixing scandal that rocked South Africa’s domestic cricket landscape.

Mbhalati appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after being arrested in November last year alongside two former Proteas, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Thami Tsolekile. He faced a charge of corruption and was convicted.

Tsotsobe and Tsolekile are expected to appear in October on similar charges.

“Mbhalati was arrested together with Tsotsobe and Tsolekile in November 2024. He has since appeared before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of the same offence during the period of suspension,” said Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale.

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In a career spanning 13 years, he played 350 games for Northerns and the Titans in all formats, picking up 594 wickets.

In 2016, he was handed a 10-year ban by Cricket South Africa for his role in match-fixing during the 2015–16 Ram Slam T20 Challenge.

In 2021, Mbhalati appeared before Cricket SA’s Social Justice and Nation Building hearings and spoke about how he suffered racial discrimination throughout his career and how he felt that the discrimination impacted his earnings.

“My son loves cricket, and he wants to play. We play together at home, but I don’t want him to play because I don’t want him suffering the same kind of things I went through as a player. I believe that those things are still happening today,” Mbhalati said back then.

Mbhalati is the fourth cricketer to be convicted for their part in the scandal, after Gulam Bodi, Pumelela Matshikwe, and Jean Symes.

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