Hot on the heels of an announcement by Standard Bank, sponsors of the Proteas Test and ODI sides, that it was withdrawing its support from Cricket South Africa (CSA), the national sporting body announced it had suspended CEO Thabang Moroe.
Moroe was put on ‘precautionary suspension’ with pay with immediate effect.
The CSA said the suspension arose from ‘allegations of misconduct’ following ‘reports received by the Social and Ethics Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board’ relating to ‘possible failure of controls in the organisation’.
These would now be investigated.
A CSA statement said: ‘During the course of Mr Thabang Moroe’s precautionary suspension, a forensic audit of critical aspects of the business and the conduct of management related to such aspects shall be conducted by an independent forensic team. In this regard, we urge all our stakeholders including sponsors, members of staff, players, volunteers and cricket fans to allow this process to unfold and we will provide updates on this matter.’
Soon after the CSA statement, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) called for the resignation of the entire CSA board. The call followed a combined meeting of its Players Executive Committee and Board in Cape Town.
A statement spelling out SACA’s concerns and recommendations included a proposed reversal of the decision to restructure domestic cricket in South Africa from the 2020/21 season.
Earlier in the day, Standard Bank announced that it would not renew ‘its agreement as the title sponsor of the South African National Men’s Cricket Team when it concludes on 30 April 2020’.
The bank said it was ‘immensely proud of the many milestones reached’, but that recent developments and ‘long-standing problems’ had led to its decision to withdraw support.
Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Thulani Sibeko, said: ‘Standard Bank is committed to upholding the highest levels of leadership, integrity and governance. In light of recent developments at CSA, which are a culmination of long-standing problems which have damaged Standard Bank’s reputation, it has decided not to renew its partnership with CSA.’
The bank said cricket was ‘a national asset valued by millions of South Africans, many of them our clients, and is an integral part of the bank’s heritage’.
“Standard Bank considers it appropriate and fair to give CSA adequate notice so that it may explore alternative sponsorships to replace Standard Bank.”
[Picture: By shi zhao, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9856251]