Drama as CSA members’ council refuses to play ball
The presence of former chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat, whose removal in September 2017 began Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) slide into chaos, is obviously the major stumbling block for the members’ council and the main reason for them refusing to recognise the interim board they originally agreed to collaborate with to avoid further intervention from Sport Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
Acting CSA president Rihan Richards tried to deny their refusal to play ball was down to their objection to an individual, but in his other statements during a press conference yesterday, he clearly identified Lorgat as the seed of their discontent.
“The chairperson of the interim board [Zak Yacoob] said they should be appointed as directors on an unqualified basis or they were no longer willing to take part. We said we were not prepared to accept Haroon Lorgat as a director but then it was not the subject of further discussion. Until this confl ict of interest is resolved, we believe the interim board has no legal standing.
“This is not about an individual but about the manner in which our concerns have been addressed, it is almost prescriptive, and we have raised issues around other persons as well. This is not a U-turn on our behalf, we just want to ensure the process remains credible,” Richards said.
He said the control of cricket now lay with “the members’ council and the small board [comprising himself, Donovan May, John Mogodi and Zola Thamae] overlooking matters”.
“I want to be very clear that we do not want conflict with the minister, we are mindful of his rights but we have taken legal advice from outside lawyers over what is our responsibility.”
However, interim board chairman retired Judge Zak Yacoob said in a statement they were publicly mandated by the minister to serve as an independent interim board to “resolve well-aired difficulties faced by CSA over the years, and, over the next three months, to try and ensure an AGM by the end of that time so that an independent, untainted board would take CSA forward with integrity”.
“We understood that there was an agreement between the minister and the members’ council on exactly who was to be appointed and the members’ council undertook to formalise the appointment so that the interim board would have the necessary authority and power to clean up cricket in South Africa.
“The members’ council has adopted the strategy to pretend to cooperate in the process but ensured that every effort was made to obstruct our work,” Yacoob said.