CSA’s efforts to muzzle journalists spark outrage

Top cricket writers’ accreditations revoked

THE South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) and the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) have condemned the actions of Cricket South Africa’s board of directors for attempts to silence journalists by recently revoking their accreditations for the Mzansi Super League games.

The CSA revoked accreditation for Stuart Hess of Independent Media, Ken Borland from The Citizen, Neil Manthorp of the SABC, Firdose Moonda of ESPN Cricinfo and Telford Vice of Cricbuzz.com.

“It’s a sorry state of affairs when attempts are made to silence respected journalists for writing about the ongoing problems in the game,” said Saca chief executive Tony Irish.

“This is not, however, dissimilar to what Saca has had to endure over the last nine months, during which we have been barred from CSA sub-committees, denied access to critical information necessary for us to represent the players and had our agreements breached with impunity.”

Saca added that at their annual general meeting of players last month, it was specifically mandated by the players to reaffirm the association’s concerns relating to the financial position, domestic restructure, the CSA and Saca relationship, the Proteas (men) team structures and the CSA’s refusal to engage Saca to resolve these issues, among others.

“Now, in the last week, there are added concerns relating to ‘unknown selectors’ selecting the Proteas team and the barring of cricket journalists from matches. It is clear to us that things are getting worse, not better.

“On behalf of the 310 professional cricketers which we represent, we are now left to publicly implore the directors of the CSA to exercise their fiduciary duties by acting to deal with these issues and to protect the game from further damage,” Irish said.

Sanef also strongly rejected the attempts by CSA to “intimidate journalists critical of the sport’s governing body”.

“Sanef believes CSA’s actions will have a chilling effect on the media’s ability to cover all aspects of cricket, not just what happens on the field of play, but also what happens behind closed doors where the sport is administered.

‘‘CSA’s actions smack of bullying, are unacceptable and must be fiercely resisted,” the forum said in a statement.

In a statement on social media, CSA said its executive fully acknowledged the recent events in the media space and despite months of experiencing “unmediated attacks”, including of a personal nature, acknowledged the severity of the current “mood” towards the brand.

“We take the opportunity to unreservedly express our intention to fully address the current situation in the media.

‘‘To this end, we commit to meet with the editors of the respective newspapers to address the current impasse. As the custodians of cricket in South Africa, we are grateful for the unwavering support of our many stakeholders, and in particular the partners and sponsors and their clientele, who collectively sustain this great sport,” CSA said.

Major sponsor Standard Bank SA also met with the CSA yesterday.

“The attempts to silence respected journalists is a sorry state of affairs Tony Irish Saca chief executive