South African cricket hit rock bottom after the Sports Confederation and the South African Olympic Committee (SASCOC) ordered the CSA board and its executive to step aside after nine months of administrative implosion.
In that time, CSA suspended and fired a CEO (and other senior officials), saw another CEO and its board chairman and three other board members resign, was embroiled in racially charged battles, which they have exposed deep-seated divisions and tried to keep a financial crisis at bay.
With the storm raging, here’s an explanation to help you navigate the strong winds and rough seas that threaten to drown the South African cricket.
So silly question, but who is running cricket in South Africa right now?
If you ask CSA, they are. “Business as usual” was the official word Friday morning with Acting CEO Kugandrie Govender continuing to work on her role with her entire staff. That may change when SASCOC appoints its task force, which is imminently expected. And we don’t know if an interim administrator will be established.
Well, what caused this?
Essentially unstable government. In the past three years, CSA has had four CEOs: Haroon Lorgat, Thabang Moroe, Jacques Faul, and Govender, and although all but Govender worked under the same chairman, Chris Nenzani, CSA as an organization has failed. He is facing significant financial losses, has lost sponsors and his relationship with the South African Cricketers Association (SACA) is troubled. If we are looking for a starting point, it was probably the failed attempt to launch the T20 Global League in 2017.
The T20 Global League was Lorgat’s brainchild, but like the tournament, Lorgat was also dropped shortly after. It was replaced by the losing Mzansi Super League, for which television rights have not been sold. Combine that with CSA’s plans to restructure the domestic system without consulting SACA and the stage was set for chaos.
SACA has taken legal action against CSA twice since Moroe was appointed and has emerged victorious both times. Since then, CSA has abandoned its restructuring plans and is expected to present new ones, but the relationship between CSA and SACA has not been healed and the game has suffered as a result.
What is SASCOC and why should I care about this acronym?
SASCOC is a legislatively created umbrella body under which all sports federations in South Africa operate. In its constitution, it says that its main agenda is “to promote and develop high-performance sport.” While it is not a governmental institution, it can be considered quasi-governmental because it is derived directly from the laws of the country. SASCOC is not an example of a well-functioning organization and is currently operating with an interim CEO and interim president as a result of delayed elections. Sounds familiar?
Can SASCOC really do what it just did with CSA?
Yes. In accordance with clause 9.1 35.4 of the SASCOC constitution, “members shall be subordinate to SASCOC and must comply with the SASCOC Constitution and any directives issued by SASCOC from time to time subject to the condition that no directives conflict with no requirement of the relevant international body to which that member is affiliated. “
But wait, doesn’t SASCOC’s intervention contravene the ICC constitution?
Possibly. Former ICC legal director David Becker believes the ICC will be “concerned” by SASCOC’s actions and will closely monitor developments.
So the ICC can also intervene?
They can, and there are examples, such as in Zimbabwe last year when the country’s Sports and Recreation Commission dissolved the Zimbabwean cricket board, leading to Zimbabwe’s subsequent suspension from the ICC. But that does not mean that they will do the same with South Africa. There are other examples of member country governments that seem to go beyond the code of conduct without teams being suspended.
An example is Pakistan, where the head of state has always been a patron of the cricket board and in the past appointed members directly to the board and recently decreed a complete overhaul of the domestic game. That has not invited scrutiny by the ICC and neither has the Indian government’s role in the cricket field impasse between India and Pakistan.
We could conclude that the ICC is more likely to respond to the CSA in the same way it reacts to the PCB and BCCI, rather than the way they deal with smaller members like Zimbabwe and Nepal.
Is there a Hail Mary that CSA can draw to improve things?
There is, and they should have used it weeks ago: make the forensic report public.
Wait, what forensic report?
The report was first discussed when Moroe was suspended in December last year and intended to investigate allegations of misconduct. The work only started in March and there were delays in completing it, but CSA now has a copy. It is believed to be 468 pages long, but very few people have seen it. Not even the vast majority of the CSA Council of Members itself, the 14 provincial presidents who make up the organization’s highest decision-making body. CSA required any of the members who wanted to see him sign a nondisclosure agreement, which some have refused to do.
Neither the SASCOC nor the country’s sports minister, Nathi Mthethwa, have seen the report despite Mthethwa insisting on seeing it before the CSA AGM, which was scheduled for September 5. Instead of showing Mthethwa the report, CSA postponed the AGM.
Why the secret?
That’s the million dollar question and we can only guess, knowingly. The report was to cover CSA’s activities in their entirety, including the activities of staff members other than Moroe and the board. CSA’s insistence on keeping the report secret seems to indicate that there are things they do not want disclosed. The report is rumored to implicate multiple people in addition to Moroe, forcing CSA to take action against those individuals as well.
The players will be fine, right?
For now, players are not affected with ten male players in the IPL and seven female players preparing for the WBBL. However, the immediate future of gambling in the country is in doubt. It is already the beginning of September and, apart from Covid-19, in a regular season, South African cricket would have already confirmed the national and international matches for next summer.
It is understandable that the pandemic delayed this, but there is no indication if CSA has made any progress on when franchise competitions will begin and if national teams will be in action anytime soon (although they need open borders for the latter to happen. ). ). If the games are scarce, CSA will eventually lose money and that will affect the players.
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