CSA tests minister’s patience again

CRICKET South Africa finds itself back at square one as it awaits the opinion of the minister of sport following a weekend in which talks about proposed changes to the organisation’s administrative structure reached a stalemate.

The next week is said to be critical for the organisation.

Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa’s office said yesterday he would be awaiting the final report from CSA’s Interim Board that he appointed last October.

That report is due next month but the Interim Board, chaired by Stavros Nicolaou, the Aspen Pharmacare group’s senior executive responsible for strategic trade development, is set to brief the minister in the next week following last Saturday’s dramatic turn of events.

Mthethwa is understood to be furious with CSA’s Members’ Council, especially the eight provincial presidents who voted not to agree to the changes that need to occur to ensure that the next permanent Board of Directors is made up of a majority of independent officials.

One of the key parts of the mandate Mthethwa gave the Interim Board when he appointed it last October was the implementation of the Nicholson recommendations.

Those included a sleeker board comprising a majority of independent directors.

CSA previously failed to implement those recommendations when they were made 10 years ago, citing the need for “cricket people” to run the organisation – an argument the majority of the current Members’ Council are making again.

Mthethwa has shown himself to be extremely patient with CSA – whether it be the long-running defence for why it chose not to immediately release the Fundudzi Forensic Report last year, to extending the period for the Interim Board to complete its work, which was supposed to be in February but is now April.

If he doesn’t see the changes he wanted the Interim Board to implement, he does have the powers at his disposal – through the National Sports and Recreation Act of 1998 – to remove recognition from CSA as the main authority that runs the game in South Africa, taking away its right to award national colours.

That could lead to a very embarrassing situation next month when the Proteas are due to face Pakistan and the very real likelihood that Temba Bavuma, newly installed as Proteas limited-overs captain, leads a team onto the field that isn’t recognised officially.

Meanwhile, the Interim Board is wrapping up disciplinary processes involving two senior employees who were suspended.

Final arguments in the matter regarding former company secretary Welsh Gwaza will be made on April 11, while former acting chief executive Kugandrie Govender’s hearing is also in its final stages.

The Interim Board needs those matters, along with a number of other legal issues, to be completed by April 15 when its mandate is set to end.