CSA and GSC deal will be in the spotlight

WHEN members of parliament’s portfolio committee for sport get their hands on the full forensic audit report prepared by Fundudzi they’ll most likely want to get to the “framework agreement entered into between CSA and GSC,” for an example of how poor the administration is at Cricket South Africa.

The axed chief executive Thabang Moroe is found by investigators Fundudzi to have breached the Companies Act more than once regarding the deal.

The deal has to do with the Mzansi Super League, which along with its defunct predecessor, the T20 Global League, are central to many of Cricket SA’S current problems. Whether it be the Board, Members Council, CEO, COO, CFO or company secretary, none have come to terms with the fall out and especially the extensive financial losses CSA has made as a result of those events – the first of which didn’t take place at all.

Global Sports Commerce, which has headquarters in Singapore and offices in Johannesburg, became CSA’S official commercial and broadcast partner for the MSL in 2018 and failed to pay its rights fee for the 2019 edition.

The agreement with GSC led to losses of R12 370 691 and was done without a bank guarantee nor a due diligence report. According to the summary of the forensic report, which was made public on Monday, CSA’S former COO Nassei Appiah told the Board a due diligence report had been done, but this was never submitted to the Board. Nevertheless the Board still signed off on the deal, which put it in breach of its fiduciary duties.

Fundudzi does provide mitigating circumstances for the Board saying it was right to trust that senior management was being honest and doing their jobs.

Instead of paying its rights fee for 2019, the Fundudzi found that GSC offered a settlement payment of $ 1.16m ( about R19.38million) to CSA in May this year. The settlement was agreed on June 6 and was set to be paid in three instalments, the last of which was due to be paid on August 28.

The summary of Funduduzi’s report highlights key aspects of the deal, but the full 468- page report is likely to provide more information, even pertaining to the role of company secretary Welsh Gwaza and why, as a compliance officer, Gwaza didn’t hold CSA’S management – Appiah and Moroe – to account.