[ad_1]
Cricket South Africa’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Kugandrie Govender was suspended on Monday, December 14. (Photo: Lee Warren / Gallo Images)
Another high-profile SA cricket manager is facing expulsion – this time it’s Cricket South Africa’s Acting CEO Kugandrie Govender, who was suspended on Monday.
The Cricket South Africa (CSA) interim board continued its cleanup operation with pace and determination as another high-profile administrator was sidelined.
Kugandrie Govender, who was the organization’s acting chief executive officer until Monday, was put on gardening leave pending a disciplinary hearing. That hearing will only take place on January 28, 2021, and she remains in full payment until at least that date.
She has been suspended for her role in several incidents in which she acted inappropriately, according to evidence in the Fundudzi report, which investigated the collapse of CSA’s management over the past two years.
The report has been a roadmap for the interim board to use as it tries to fulfill its mandate of solving its failed corporate governance problems. You must be doing something right, because you are making enemies wherever you go.
Govender was the second CSA operational staff member to be suspended last week. He followed company secretary Welsh Gwaza on a longer-than-expected holiday break.
“This notice establishes allegations of misconduct by Ms. Govender while serving as CSA’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and while she was Acting Executive Director,” a statement from the interim board reads.
“The hearing will take place on January 28, 2021, when Ms. Govender will be able to respond to the charges that have been presented to her.
“The charges against Ms. Govender relate, among other things, to
(i) The role it played in revoking the media accreditation of certain journalists in December 2019;
(ii) Various breaches of the provisions of the Capital Companies Act as a prescribed officer of CSA; and
(iii) The role you played in the dismissal of Mr. Clive Eksteen, which CSA has now recognized (in terms of a settlement agreement with Mr. Eksteen) was an unfair dismissal ”.
Current CSA CFO Pholetsi Moseki will serve as the leader of CSA’s executive management team over the summer.
Gwaza’s disciplinary hearing postponed
Two weeks ago, the board suspended Gwaza, who had quietly become CSA’s main decision-maker. His fingerprints have been in many of the problems that have plagued CSA for the past two years, but others were removed while he remained in the shadows.
The interim board, chaired by retired Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob, called him. The speed and aggressiveness with which the interim board is fulfilling its mandate to clean the sport has run into snipers.
Gwaza’s disciplinary hearing was expected to take place on Monday, but was postponed. Gwaza filed a request Sunday asking for more time to mount a defense, and the interim board has given him that leeway. But Gwaza has lost his salary and his payment will no longer be suspended.
Yacoob, as he himself admitted at various press conferences, annoys people with his swift and decisive action. Last week, the interim board removed two of their own: Omphile Ramela and Xolani Vonya. Yacoob released a 23-page “statement of reasons” outlining the events that led to the couple’s removal from the interim board.
This led some factions of the fractured sport to turn to social media to challenge Yacoob’s “authoritarian” style.
Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, a former member of the ousted board of directors, took to social media over the weekend to wonder why the interim board was bypassing the Companies Act. Although, when reading the detailed outline of Ramela’s dismissal, it seems obvious that the breaches of the Corporations Law were perpetrated by Ramela. In any case, the interim board has been following the Companies Law to the letter.
It was also instructive that Kula-Ameyaw presented the Business Law as a kind of sacred document despite the fact that the Fundudzi report clearly highlights how the previous board acted in violation of the law on dozens of occasions.
Even the legitimacy of the interim board has been questioned. But that’s another red herring, as the interim board was formally appointed by the CSA Council of Members, the sport’s highest decision-making authority.
It is true that the interim board was established by Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa, who lobbied the Membership Council to accept his ultimatum. But once the Council of Members gave in and ratified the interim board, it legitimized its position.
Yacoob and the interim board are not there to win a popularity contest and they are succeeding. It is moving fast and with purpose. He has a three-month window to do his job and seems determined to stick to the deadline.
The result is that stone walls and subterfuge are being brutalized. And it is causing panic at all levels of the organization.
Yacoob has said on more than one occasion that the Council of Members has the right to dissolve the interim meeting, as it would have the right to dissolve a “normal” meeting. But after a month there seems to be no sign that the Council of Members is doing so. DM
