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In a letter drafted in the best legal jargon, CSA Acting Chairman Beresford Williams hinted that some members might be involved in some form of wrongdoing. (Photo: Adobestock)
The entire board of Cricket South Africa has resigned, though some will roam the game like zombies until a makeshift structure takes over. What made the board of directors leave after months of bloodthirsty mentality, and what happens now?
Seventy-two hours after the Cricket South Africa (CSA) board of directors was asked, not for the first time, to step aside and, also not for the first time, to refuse, all 10 directors had resigned.
The announcement that Zola Thamae, Marius Schoeman, Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw and Vuyokazi Memani-Sedile were out of the game was posted on CSA’s official Twitter account on Monday morning.
They followed Beresford Williams, Angelo Carolissen, Donovan May, Tebogo Siko, John Mogodi and Dheven Dharmalingham, who resigned Sunday.
“After the Membership Council deliberated and resolved that to best serve the interests of cricket in South Africa, the entire board should resign, which they did,” CSA tweeted. “All Independent and Non-Independent Directors have resigned.”
What cricket stakeholders have been asking for since December has been achieved. Now what?
The CSA is nominally headed by Rihan Richards, the former board member representing the Northern Cape on the Members’ Council, cricket’s highest authority, of which he was named chairman on Sunday. But Richards could be reduced to a figurehead by Wednesday.
Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa will wait until Tuesday’s close for CSA to argue against its intervention in its affairs. What they say is unlikely to be of much use to you.
Not so fast, sports lovers. Having allowed cricket-minded South Africans to enjoy the moment of the despised junta’s demise, CSA released a lunchtime statement that read: “All resignations are effective immediately except for three members, namely Zola Thamae, John Mogodi and Donovan May will remain as directors until the interim board structure has been appointed to ensure the continuity and stability of the organization. “
The statement also said that Richards would preside over this zombie board, that he might not be with us for long.
Mthethwa will likely instruct the Sports Confederation and the South African Olympic Committee (Sascoc) to establish an interim structure to control cricket, at least until the CSA annual meeting on December 5.
Speculation about who could be part of this body is on the rise, but it seems certain that it includes a respected former player and a figure who has high-level experience with the International Cricket Council.
South Africans more interested in who is on the field than in the boardroom should rest assured that the national season will still begin on November 2, and that England will remain on track to send their men’s team to the country on November 16. November to play six targets. – International ball.
But what changed between the Membership Council asking the board to attend a meeting on Thursday night and being rejected and Monday morning?
The fact that the players in this contest are wearing a neck and tie and not pads and helmets does not make the question any less intriguing.
The answer could lie in the weakness that has been built into CSA’s organizational design. The same Council of Members that called for the board’s resignation includes six now former board members, who opposed the proposal when it was debated.
But they were defeated by the eight people on the Membership Council who were not on the board, and it was resolved that the board should be asked to resign their positions.
That put the suits that were in both structures in a hateful position. They could not refuse to enact, at the board level, a resolution of the Council of Members of which they had been a part, even though they had disagreed. Once the decision was made to ask the board to resign, they were obligated to follow the speech of the Council of Members.
Still, with the exception of Williams, non-independent directors will remain on the Membership Council as provincial representatives.
That certainly explains the jarring and delicate tone of other CSA tweets on Monday: “The Council of Members thanks all members who served diligently on the Board and selflessly sacrificed their time over long and often overwhelming periods to help. [CSA].
“The Council of Members appreciates your commitment to cricket and despite the turbulent economic climate, CSA, under your leadership, received an unqualified audit for the financial year ending April 30, 2020. The council wishes you all the best in your future endeavors. “
Directors who have passed away before should not be under any illusions that this sentiment is shared in the provinces from which most of them come and to which they owe their positions on the board.
“It’s a shit show,” said Garrett Perry, vice president of the Nelson Mandela Bay Cricket Association and president of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club. Daily maverick Monday.
“Maybe it’s because there are people in high positions at CSA who have never played the game, or maybe it’s because they’re trying to do all they can with cricket.
“But you have the feeling that people who want to give back to the game and want to do the right thing, people like [former acting chief executive] Jacques Faul – They are out of their posts. “
Independent directors are not on the Board of Members, so they are not subject to the kind of pressure that non-independents face.
But when the independent Dharmalingham, the only director willing to resign on Thursday, was Sunday, the other independents, Schoeman, Kula-Ameyaw and Memani-Sedile, had nowhere to hide.
Dharmalingham, who chaired the finance committee, and Schoeman, who was in charge of the ethics and social committee, brought the competition into a structure that needed exactly that. But the elimination of Kula-Ameyaw, the transformation chair, will not be regretted.
It is understood that Faul’s resignation on August 17 is due to the publication in the sunday time of a full-page ad that cost CSA 521,000 rand and was placed at the insistence of Kula-Ameyaw.
The CFO and CEO were asked to approve expenses of that size. Pholetsi Moseki, the CFO, initially objected, but then took a curious turn. Faul was never in favor and maintained his position. However, the announcement was published.
Dharmalingham made a smart box in his explanation to Parliament on October 13: “As a non-executive director, we have no mandate to authorize any spending. So, from that perspective, Dr. Eugenia could not have authorized that expense.
“In terms of the process within the organization, any acquisition goes through acquisitions and, depending on the quantity, and in this case, the quantity was such that it had to be approved by at least the CFO and the CEO, in this scenario actually it was approved by the CFO and it was done within his mandate ”.
The fact that Faul did not sign the purchase order, as he would have had to in order for the money to be spent legitimately, was conveniently overlooked.
By then, it was apparent that Kula-Ameyaw was not suited to her role. On August 28, he told a press conference: “What I don’t like about cricket is that they don’t predict how long they will play. Soccer is 45, 45 [minutes]; then you are done. I only see the highlights of cricket, not the entire game. I do not have time for that “.
On September 16, after Momentum, one of CSA’s few remaining backers, said that they were ending most of their relationship with cricket, she tweeted: “Momentum forgets we invested hundreds of millions in Momentum in our SOE. [state-owned enterprises] and pension funds. I remember asking for the BBBEE [broad-based black economic empowerment, and affirmative action policy] certified on my other board. “
Momentum is a level 1 contributor in terms of BBBEE, the highest certification available, and has a BBBEE recognition level of 135%.
Kula-Ameyaw had finished her tweet: “Just check before making an irrational decision.”
Sound warning. Clearly, it wasn’t taken. DM
