Set the game of cricket on the correct path of renewal
The players appear to have grasped the nub of the challenge that confronts the game in SA, but the administrators have not yet shown a similar appreciation
Cricket SA keeps finding ways of plunging to new depths of chaos and turmoil. Hardly a day goes by without the rot growing more nauseating. Of greater concern is that some of the bodies seeking to intervene — the ministry of sport and the South African Sports Confederation & Olympic Committee (Sascoc) — lack the credibility to do so. This is a damning indictment of the state of governance in our society, across sectors.
Sascoc has denied that, in seeking to intervene, it is acting at the behest of the government. In a letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC) it emphasised that CSA has not been placed under administration and that it will be merely overseeing an independent team charged with investigating the administrative, operational and/or financial affairs of CSA.
Borrowing the phrase “step aside” from the ruling party when dealing with miscreants in its midst, Sascoc says that CSA board members will be required to “step aside in order to facilitate the work of the task team”.
Sascoc is itself mired in a governance crisis, with veteran sports administrator Sam Ramsamy being brought in by the International Olympic Committee to oversee elections at the national sports confederation.
CSA’s apparent capitulation to the minister of sport, Nathi Mthethwa, promising that it will appoint only black consultants, was further evidence of the lack of any strategic vision by the board and management. It smacks of political expediency. CSA later clarified its position to bring it into line with established affirmative action criteria. However, the fixation on “quotas”, whether in the administration or the playing teams, belies any real understanding of transformation by the minister and CSA.
Quotas or targets are but one of the tools to effect change, necessary but insufficient on their own, yet for CSA these appear to be an end in itself. Real transformation takes hard work and commitment, continuing engagement, and an agreement on an end goal that secures buy-in from all participants.
It is about promoting diversity while embracing inclusivity. Redress for past injustices is a critical part of the process of healing, as is demographic representivity, but these should not be done in a manner that destroys the future.
It is about crafting a new, inclusive institutional culture that reflects the diversity of the organisation. Employment equity is one measure of success, but not the only one. It should be as much about how things are done as the outcomes themselves.
In this regard, the statement issued by the current crop of Proteas men’s and women’s players may be a silver lining on a very murky cloud. They appear to have grasped the nub of the challenge that confronts cricket in SA:
“Cricket SA has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past year ... at a time when we are having challenging conversations about transformation, and in an environment where the financial viability of the game is under major threat ... High standards are expected of us as players. To succeed as Proteas teams, we know we have to put aside personal differences and work together. We require the same of our administrators. Politics and self-interest appear to trump cricket imperatives and good governance. Decisions must be made that are in the best interests of cricket, failing which the game we love may be irreparably damaged in this country.”
CSA director and transformation chair Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw clearly did not pay much heed to this heartfelt plea by the players when she attacked the latest of the game’s departing sponsors, Momentum, questioning the company’s BBBEE standing. CSA then had to engage in some damage control by hurriedly issuing an apology to Momentum and distancing itself from Kula-Ameyaw’s “unfortunate and unwarranted tweets”.
The recent appointment of Dumisa Ntsebeza as
CSA’s transformation ombudsman is in principle a sound one. Who better to undertake this enormous task than someone who was a truth and reconciliation commissioner? He will bring vast knowledge and experience of the limitations of such a process, which as a society we are still grappling with. There has been no financial redress for the victims of apartheid brutality, nor have the perpetrators of crimes who did not qualify for amnesty been prosecuted.
Ntsebeza has been tasked with establishing the restoration fund, convening a national social justice and nation-building imbizo, assessing the impact of transformation programmes and implementing the diversity, belonging & inclusivity programme. That is a tall order, like having to bat out day five of a Test match on a deteriorating, crumbling wicket.
He must surely be asking himself whether he has been set up to fail, to camouflage the shortcomings of past and present administrators and stewards of the game. His task is made more onerous by the fact of his appointment by a board that lacks any credibility, and the parlous state of the game’s coffers.
It is encouraging that the members’ council, a body comprising the presidents of the 12 affiliates and the president and vice-president of CSA, has finally begun to grapple with the governance challenges regarding the selection and composition of the board identified in the Nicholson report in 2012. CSA states that the council “addressed the past ambiguity of the nominations process through the establishment of an interim selection panel consisting of members from both within and outside of the cricket community as a test for fairness and transparency”.
The members’ council is effectively the shareholder of CSA and as such has the responsibility to appoint the board. With some from this council currently serving on the board, there was the inevitable horse-trading, and the entrenchment of parochial interests in the management of the game.
The council should be encouraged to appoint a board comprised entirely of independent directors with the necessary expertise in law, governance, finance and accounting, all with a passion for the game. A nominations panel could include representatives from professional groups such as the Law Society and South African Institute of Chartered Accountants to ensure candidates are qualified.
The board will be accountable to the members’ council at annual meetings. In addition, an annual strategy lekgotla should be held to determine strategic plans and priorities with respect to the development of cricket, especially at grassroots level.
Even if these processes were to be followed ahead of the delayed CSA annual meeting, the elephant in the room must be confronted. The members’ council needs to ensure that the forensic report into governance failures at CSA, currently under wraps, is made public and all those implicated are held accountable. To date, only former CEO Thabang Moroe has faced sanction and been dismissed. That culpability may also reside with some members and directors is no reason for obfuscation; if anything, it demands greater levels of transparency.
CSA cannot build for the future on shaky moral and ethical grounds. The members’ council, compromised as it may be, has the opportunity to set the game on the correct path of renewal. It owes that duty to current and future players, and the nation at large. Do the right thing.