Nkwe’s Proteas future still up in the air
THE future of Proteas assistant coach Enoch Nkwe remains uncertain following his intention to resign from the position, which was made known publicly yesterday.
Nkwe held meetings yesterday with the chairman of Cricket South Africa’s board of directors Lawson Naidoo and the organisation’s acting chief executive Pholetse Moseki. “It’s all still up in the air,” Naidoo said yesterday, adding that discussions with Nkwe were ongoing. Nkwe will not be accompanying the Proteas to Sri Lanka, where the team will be playing a limited-overs series next month. The extra baggage from yesterday’s developments are set to weigh heavy on the players and management.
Nkwe’s intention to resign, made known in a letter that was received by the board at the weekend, couldn’t have come at a worse time for CSA amidst the ongoing testimony at the Social Justice and Nation Building hearings, and most critically, just hours after Proteas head coach Mark Boucher had made public his submission to the SJN, in which he offered an apology for inappropriate behaviour on his behalf during his playing days.
The exact reasons for Nkwe’s intention to resign are not known. He did not travel with the team to the West Indies for the Test series in June, with CSA claiming that was due to “family responsibility leave”. He did fulfil duties subsequently for the T20 series in the Caribbean and later in Ireland for the national side’s tour there.
His resignation, whatever the reasons, will rock the sport, which has been under a cloud after numerous ex-players and officials, testifying under oath, have alleged racial discrimination to the SJN hearings.
The upheaval in CSA that followed, saw the national team’s management structure return to a more conventional one, with Nkwe, made the assistant and Boucher the head coach.