Cricket South Africa (CSA) has rejected an attempted takeover by the government-appointed South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), amid fears that political interference could lead to the Proteas being suspended from international competition by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
CSA had reportedly approached Sascoc for assistance in managing its governance scandal following a forensic investigation and the dismissal of former CSA CEO Thabang Moroe.
But matters came to a head on Thursday evening when Sascoc announced that it intended stepping in to investigate CSA’s affairs and appoint a task team for the purpose.
In the early hours of Friday morning, the CSA issued a statement saying it ‘did not agree’ with Sascoc’s move and that its board of directors and members’ council would hold a joint workshop this weekend to discuss ‘critical issues’.
The latest developments follow the CSA’s about-turn on a controversial undertaking to sports minister Nathi Mthethwa that it would appoint only black consultants as a way of promoting transformation in the sport.
The announcement triggered outrage from many, and prompted the IRR to write to the ICC asking it to investigate apparent political interference in the CSA and its being in breach of ICC membership commitments to non-racialism.
This week, the CSA denied this, saying its statements on the matter had been misunderstood. Sport24 subsequently published Whatsapp correspondence with acting CSA CEO Kugandrie Govender, which corroborated its initial reporting on the black-consultants-only statement.
Reports yesterday suggested that Sascoc was angered by the continued refusal of CSA to share the Fundudzi Forensic Report that led to the dismissal of Moroe.
The Citizen reported yesterday that while the CSA Board ‘have kept the Fundudzi Forensic Report as a closely-guarded secret, hampering the efforts of the Members Council, who commissioned it, to access it, it is believed Moroe was fired based on excessive credit card use; falling out with key stakeholders such as the players’ union, sponsors and the media; and insubordination for not co-operating with the investigation’.
It went on that the refusal of the Board to release the contents of the full report had led to speculation that CSA directors and some senior staff were also implicated in wrongdoing.
Earlier this week, Momentum, which sponsors the national women’s team and limited overs cricket, said it wanted to see ‘a governing body that is run professionally and ethically’.
Momentum’s head of sponsorships, Carel Bosman, was quoted as saying: ‘We are not satisfied with the current situation at CSA or with the slow progress since we urged CSA in December 2019 to take specific urgent steps to address the governance challenges it has been facing.’
[Picture: Chirayu Trivedi on Unsplash]