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Johannesburg - The jailing of three Pakistani cricketers for corruption was cause for celebration, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Friday.
"They have been put in their place and, at the end of the day, justice has been served," he told reporters in Johannesburg.
A British judge sentenced former Pakistan captain Salman Butt to 30 months in jail, fast bowler Mohammad Asif one year and Mohammad Aamer to six months - after they were found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal at the Lord's Test against England in August 2010.
"We should be celebrating that they were jailed," Mbalula said.
"We need cleanliness in sport and I don’t sympathise with crooks."
After the scandal broke, the ICC came down hard on Pakistan, threatening it with suspension if reforms were not introduced.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said it had taken serious measures to prevent future misconduct and that "more would follow" as and when the need arose.
Proteas’ team manager Mohammed Moosajee said the ICC had sent a strong signal to cricketers around the world.
He said Cricket SA (CSA) had on-going measures in place to ensure their players were fully informed of the dangers of getting involved in match fixing.
"It sends out a strong message. I think world cricket was waiting for something of this sort to happen," Moosajee said.
He said corruption in sport was rife and management had to be on the lookout all the time for anything untoward happening in South African cricket.
He doubted the problem would disappear in the foreseeable future.
"From CSA’s perspective, the long term strategy is to make sure that we nip this in the bud if it ever occurs," he said.
"It’s the reality of modern world we’re living in but, from our perspective, we need to minimise the risk of exposure to our players."
