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- Acting Chairman Aleck Skhosana confirmed that Sascoc will go ahead with their planned intervention, but they want the Fundudzi Report delivered to them before continuing.
- Cricket SA said it had not changed its mind about withholding the Fundudzi Report due to legal implications.
- Skhosana said Sascoc “would use other measures” to obtain the report without restrictions.
Acting President of the Sports Confederation and the South African Olympic Committee (Sascoc) Aleck skhosana They confirmed that they would go ahead with the planned task force intervention at Cricket South Africa (CSA) despite continued “positive” engagement.
The two bodies met this week to discuss the planned intervention, which depends, among many thorny points, on the unrestricted release of Fundudzi Forensic Services’ external audit on CSA matters dating from 2016 to 2019.
The CSA Council of Members, made up of the 14 provincial presidents, met last weekend and the report was presented to them. However, they had to sign confidentiality agreements and were not allowed to keep copies of the report after the meetings.
Sascoc has refused to view the report under these prescriptions, nor to view the report at the offices of CSA’s legal representatives, Bowmans.
“Former CSA president (Chris) Nenzani already promised Sascoc the forensic report in June,” Skhosana said during a joint virtual press conference on Thursday.
“But this promise has been broken and the commitment to do so has been breached. Sascoc’s concern is that, even though the report has been discussed with the Council of Members, we simply cannot be sure that a consultation had taken place. appropriate with the respective unions of the members.
“Presidents act by mandate of their respective (provincial) boards. How are they expected to get a proper mandate from their boards when they are not allowed to share the content of a report they commissioned?
“That is why the refusal to make the report available without restrictions is irrational and unreasonable.
“Sascoc should be construed as intervening simply to force the forensic report to be made public. We have given it to the CSA Council of Members and have committed that the report, once received, will only be discussed between the board (of Sascoc) and his advisory team and will not be published.
“Sascoc respects the rights of those implicated in the report. However, Sascoc expects the report as a demonstration that CSA is cooperating with the investigation.
“If the report is not yet published, then sadly Sascoc will have no choice but to resort to other measures that we are not going to address here (press conference). We will make sure there is full compliance.”
CSA also backed off on the unrestricted release of the report, saying there were legal implications that would affect the organization again due to the individuals named in the Fundudzi report, who were still serving at the company in various roles.
However, CSA Acting Chairman Beresford Williams said they were still engaged with Sascoc to resolve the deadlock around the report, which showed no signs of breaking at the joint press conference.
“The engagement with Sascoc has been very positive,” Williams said.
“We have had a great dialogue in the meetings between the parties. We value the role Sascoc plays within the sports community and there is no doubt that together we will find common ground on most issues.”
“Our commitments and dialogue have been very constructive and we have made good ground on the issues. That is going well and that is very grateful.
“I want to make it clear that we have a fiduciary duty to cricket as board members. The Council of Members resolved that the forensic report they received will also be available under the same conditions.
“We offered to make the summary report available and our legal representatives would provide the necessary breakdown and it would be presented to the Sascoc board.
“We are clear that the report has been offered and we contacted Sascoc a day ago and await his formal comments.”
The composition of the Sascoc work team is not yet available. Sascoc said it was waiting to receive the Fundudzi report to finalize its composition.
Skhosana doubled down on Sascoc’s intentions to intervene, saying their constitution required them to take note of the negative report, public apathy, and concern from stakeholders and sponsors with what’s going on at CSA.
“CSA has already asked Sascoc for help,” he said.
“The difference between your request and Sascoc’s initiative is that CSA did indeed want Sascoc to serve as a kind of subcommittee on the CSA board. Sascoc is not prepared to do so. We don’t want to be involved in the nitty-gritty. All we want to do is put in a competent team, with integrity and experience, to deal with problems.
“There can be no doubt that the public, current and former players, stakeholders and sponsors have lost all trust in the CSA board.
“This is evidenced in the calls, on a daily basis, for the CSA board to step down or step aside. Sascoc has a duty to listen to these calls and investigate the alleged issues and problems for themselves.”
On Tuesday, ODI sponsors Momentum said it would not continue its sponsorship after the current deal ends next April, but would continue to sponsor the Proteas Women’s team until 2023.
