Council needs reforming
WHAT’S now clear from the statements of Central Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga, and the comments from Easterns Cricket Union and Free State Cricket Union president Xander Snyders is that Tuesday morning’s statement from Cricket SA’s Members Council does not reflect the beliefs of that Council.
Even the Northerns Cricket Union’s statement yesterday morning, in which it tried to be ‘Switzerland’ and is proposing an Indaba with all parties, reflected the deep divisions on Cricket SA’s Members Council – the most powerful decision-making body in the organisation made up of the 14 provincial presidents.
And that puts its chairman Rihan Richards in a precarious position. That statement on Tuesday really should have got unanimous backing or as close as possible to unanimous backing before it was released.
A bit like those 12 football clubs in Europe who reckoned on starting a ‘Super League’ – there really needed to be buy-in from more than just clubs from only three countries before that plan was even made public – so the Members Council needed much more support before that statement was made public.
It was also ridiculous of Richards to go on Radio 702 on Tuesday and say that just because three unions abstained from Saturday’s vote about the adoption of a new Memorandum of Incorporation, that meant they were against the structural change. What it means is, they didn’t want to take a stance.
If any member of the public in a general election doesn’t vote, that doesn’t mean their ‘no vote’ goes to a party, or automatically states their side in an argument – those people chose not to have a say.
They may try to defend that position, but given the importance of what was being voted for last Saturday and the fact that the Members Council, by a big majority with nine of the 14 presidents voting in favour, told the Sports Minister a week earlier it would vote for the changes, abstaining just seems cowardly.
More importantly for Richards and the Members Council as a body, is the fact that they appear unco-operative. The players, the Interim Board, the Minister and the public, everyone else wants progress. But not those five on the Members Council, while those who abstained, have chickened out. If they were players, you wouldn’t pick them.
Far from representing a unified front as that Tuesday morning statement implied, the Members Council seems to be bowing to the whims of five presidents. That cannot be allowed and does the organisation no good, while it makes the Members Council appear susceptible to bullying. How can a body that allows that kind of thing, be the most powerful decision making body in Cricket South Africa?
If nothing else, Tuesday’s statement, followed by the public positions taken by Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State and Easterns also indicates that besides the administrative restructuring at Board level at CSA, the Members Council is also desperately in need of reform.