Cricket SA suffers yet another legal blow

Appiah wins appeal against the body after he was suspended as COO

Cricket SA (CSA) has been dealt another legal blow after its suspended COO, Naasei Appiah, won his appeal against the organisation.

Appiah was suspended in October 2019‚ together with thenacting director of CSA Corrie van Zyl and now fired head of sales and sponsorship Clive Eksteen‚ over CSA’s non-payment of commercial rights fees for the 2018 Mzansi Super League to the SA Cricketer’s Association.

Their actions at the time were considered to be a dereliction of duty and they were suspended.

The cricketers’ association lodged a dispute with the CSA over the unpaid fees‚ but also said the trio were not to blame for the issue.

Van Zyl was found guilty of bringing the company into disrepute‚ was given a final warning and has since returned to CSA.

Appiah, a long-time CSA employee, was also found guilty but appealed.

It is understood that Appiah had his guilty verdict for the association payment matter‚ as well as for allowing a service provider access to an MSL game and credit card abuse‚ overturned on appeal.

It is understood that CSA received the main appeal ruling on June 17 and filed an interlocutory appeal that came back on June 22.

It is believed Appiah’s June salary was not paid in full by CSA though he was suspended on full pay.

Appiah’s legal representative‚ Thapelo Kharametsane‚ said CSA had filed an interlocutory appeal after it had lost the main ruling.

They were not informed of the results of these processes until Tuesday morning.

“CSA brought in an interlocutory appeal saying the disciplinary code was broad and we weren’t allowed to appeal on all the aspects on which we were appealing.

“They brought that application and we brought a counter application ‚” K hara met sane said.

“The chairperson issued the main ruling‚ and in that ruling he dealt with those interlocutory applications.

“The main ruling is dated June 17‚ which they received and we didn’t know.

“CSA then requested a separate ruling that talked to the interlocutory applications.

That ruling is dated June 22. We didn’t know about both the rulings. They kept quiet about both rulings and we only found out (on Tuesday).

“The main application basically takes care of everything.”

CSA spokesperson Thami Mthembu said the organisation was not in a position to comment until a final decision had been taken.

“The case you are referring to hasn’t been finalised.

“Therefore CSA is presently not in a position to share pertinent details until such time a final decision has been arrived at‚” Mthembu said.

We weren’t allowed to appeal on all the aspects on which we were appealing