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Cricket South Africa (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi / Gallo Images)
- Sascoc received what they called a “reasonable” response from the ICC to the letter they sent last Friday explaining their decision to intervene in Cricket SA.
- Sascoc’s board is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon prior to the 7:00 PM critical meeting with the Cricket SA Membership Council.
- They have worked to allay fears that intervention in CSA does not constitute government interference, which would be a violation of the ICC constitution.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) say they received a “reasonable” response from the International Cricket Council (ICC) after they wrote to the world cricket governing body explaining their intentions to intervene in Cricket South Africa (CSA).
Acting CEO Ravi Govender confirmed Sport24 that the ICC, which last week said it was monitoring the situation and gathering data on the unfolding saga, responded to its letter addressed to ICC President Imran Khwaja and Chief Executive Officer Manu Sawhney dated Friday 12 of September.
The ICC prohibits government interference with any of its national affiliates and last year they suspended Zimbabwe from international cricket following the same violation of this code.
“We received a response from the ICC,” Govender said.
“We do not want to comment on that at this time. That correspondence has also been sent to the Council of Members.
“It was a reasonable response and it was to be expected. But we will present it to the Sascoc board when we meet this afternoon and I am sure this letter will also be on the table for discussion at 7pm with CSA.”
Sascoc wrote to the World Cricket Maternal Body in an effort to allay fears that his intervention constituted government interference.
In its resolutions after the Sept. 8 board meeting, Sascoc mentioned that part of the reason it chose to intervene at Cricket SA was due to a “directive” from Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
Sascoc Acting Chairman Aleck Skhosana also said City press last week they were “invited” to speak by the Sports Minister.
In his letter to the ICC, Sascoc dismissed the allegations of government interference, saying:
Given the litany of complaints that has plagued CSA since at least December 2019, there can be no doubt that CSA has been discredited and that its position among players and former players, the media, the public and, what is Most importantly, your stakeholders. like sponsors and the government, they have declined dramatically, resulting in a loss of trust in the organization.
Therefore, you will appreciate that as the “parent body” legally authorized to take an active interest in and care about its Member Federations, the SASCOC Board has attempted to interact with the CSA Board on at least two (2) occasions, most recently resulting in a very brief meeting due to CSA’s refusal to make the forensic report available to him. CSA’s steadfast refusal to make the forensic report available is puzzling as it appears that they cannot self-correct if the report is not available, not only to their own members, but to the media and the general public as well. since it is a public document.
The Task Force will be comprised of prominent South Africans with reputations and integrity and, once identified, will conduct an initial investigation within one (1) month. The Task Force will remain accountable to the SASCOC Board and the Cricket South Africa Council of Members once its findings and recommendations are made. Therefore, there is no attempt to put Cricket South Africa under management as reported.
There are also reports that SASCOC’s intervention is nothing more than government interference, and that SASCOC is somehow “holding back” the Government of the Republic of South Africa. Such accusations are completely unfounded, ill-conceived, and malicious. It is also an insult to SASCOC. At no time does SASCOC act or act under the direction or control of the country’s Minister of Sports, or the Government of the Republic of South Africa … The Board exercises its judgment independently of the Government or any other external influence.
Mthethwa has yet to reply to Sport24Email requests for comments on the thorny issue.
Meanwhile, Sascoc’s board is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon to align its position before its 7pm meeting with the CSA Council of Members.
Govender would not delve into the arrest as to what they hoped to get out of the meeting with CSA.
“I would prefer not to allude to that because my board will meet before then, to come together and realign the exchange of correspondence between Cricket SA and us (Sascoc),” he said.
“Until we have that discussion, I’m not going to … I’m going to take my mind off having expectations.
“We have until 7pm tonight to have that discussion. We will meet with CSA at 7pm.”
At tonight’s meeting, which will take place virtually and which will be attended by the 14 provincial presidents and Sascoc, the Council of Members is expected to affirm to Sascoc that they have the situation at CSA under control.
However, it is unclear whether the bone of contention, Fundudzi Forensic Services’ unpublished external audit report (publicly) on CSA matters, will be delivered to Sascoc without any restrictions, per its request.
During their weekend meeting, CSA presented the Fundudzi report to its Council of Members, after which it promised to “take steps to implement the recommendations and act against the relevant parties”, after a plan was presented and adopted.
