Things look even worse behind boundary rope
Whatever the optimism in the country this week after the seismic political changes, there is an ill-wind gusting through the corridors of Cricket South Africa.
In fact, the on-field problems which have seen the Proteas blown away by India in an ODI series a little more than a year away from the World Cup, pale into insignificance compared to the dangers posed by the office intrigues currently underway in CSA’s new premises in Melrose Estate.
Divide and conquer would seem to be the new leadership policy of Thabang Moroe, the acting CEO after the unceremonious departure of Haroon Lorgat. The portents are not good when the man in charge of the day-to-day running of an organisation calls a media briefing to which only the black African cricket-writing fraternity were invited, as happened last week.
The overwhelming feeling from Coloured and Indian stakeholders in the game is that the tide is turning against them and they are now being pushed to the sidelines in terms of influence. This is made most palpable by the efforts to get rid of Mohammed Moosajee, the long-standing, highly-respected and efficient Proteas team manager who doubles up as the doctor.
The players and new coach Ottis Gibson are apparently pushing for Moosajee’s contract to be renewed and with the World Cup so close, that is undoubtedly the
Ken Borland
right decision.
Moroe, who was a technology specialist for one of the major cellphone companies before his rise up the ranks of cricket administration, is coming across a bit like the heartless android that runs amok in science fiction movies at the moment. Be it his hard-core (and surely doomed) approach to player negotiations or his sweeping austerity measures at CSA – for example the Sunfoil Series, the premier four-day competition, only has two umpires allocated to each game, with the match referee as their back-up – Moroe certainly seems focused on the bottom line.
But getting rid of Moosajee will actually cost CSA considerably more money because, unless they are very fortunate, they will then have to employ two people – one as manager and one as team doctor.
If Moroe’s rampage is allowed to continue by the CSA board, it will definitely affect the on-field performance of the players as well. Apparently the acting CEO has also been willing to take more than an active interest in team selection as well; nothing will take our top players away to Kolpak contracts quicker than selectorial interference.
There have been rumblings that the CSA board are not happy with Moroe’s behaviour. Surely they have learnt their lesson after the tenures of Gerald Majola and Lorgat that the time to take action is now?
If not reined in, Moroe looks set to cause South African cricket an enormous amount of damage. He needs to be told that he is only in an acting capacity and must wind his neck in; in fact there is an urgency required in terms of CSA finding a permanent CEO.
At the moment Moroe is in charge following the palace revolt against Lorgat, for an indeterminate term. There are hints that it may be time for an appeal for Timed Out to be made.