Howzat! CSA chief issues an apology
CRICKET SA (CSA) chief executive Thabang Moroe issued a mea culpa yesterday as it was further damaged by the resignation of Shirley Zinn, one of the five independent directors on the board.
The CSA board of directors will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday where “important decisions will be made,” it said in a statement.
Moroe apologised to five members of the media who had their accreditations revoked at the weekend, calling it an
“error in judgment”, and to CSA sponsors who were made to look as if they continued to support the body despite last weekend’s controversy.
“It is understandable that my job as CEO is always under the microscope,” Moroe said in the statement. “It’s not just for ethical reasons but for my love of cricket that I adhere to due process, especially during uncomfortable moments.”
While Moroe highlighted “due process”, Zinn resigned citing the failure to adhere to good corporate governance standards. “I believe very strongly that those principles need to be adhered to and guarded,” she said.
The revoking of accreditation of five journalists last weekend, blocking them from entering stadiums, upset Zinn, who served as an independent director at Sanlam, further accelerating her exit.
“The last two days really broke my back, it was a step too far,” Zinn said of the decision by CSA’s senior administration to prevent the five journalists from covering matches.
“The story about Graeme Smith in the Sunday Times was the end for me,” she added.
The Sunday Times had reported that Smith was set to be announced as the director of cricket but on Monday he said that was not the case.
Independent Media understands that Smith, who announced he was withdrawing from the process to appoint the director two weeks ago, was asked by CSA to reconsider.
It’s believed he met CSA president Chris Nenzani, Zinn and Moroe in Cape Town last week, where it was understood he reiterated the concerns he had about CSA which still had to be addressed.
Also yesterday, Standard Bank, title sponsor of the Proteas, said it had expressed its “displeasure at the unsatisfactory manner in which CSA had engaged some of its stakeholders”, regarding governance issues. It met CSA officials, including Moroe, on Monday evening about “governance and conduct challenges that have tarnished the image of cricket in South Africa”.
“As a major sponsor of cricket in South Africa, we believe that we should have been afforded the courtesy to be kept abreast of these developments within CSA, and not to hear about them from the media in the unfortunate manner that we did,” said Thulani Sibeko, the bank’s chief marketing officer.
Besides Standard Bank, CSA claimed that it had engaged other stakeholders, although there was one significant entity it didn’t address, the country’s players. “CSA says is (sic) been engaging with key stakeholders. No engagement with us. Clearly it doesn’t consider @SACAplayers and players as key stakeholders,” SA Cricketers Association chief executive Tony Irish tweeted.
One insider said the board had become “very divided” over Moroe and in a number of meetings concerns were expressed about his conduct.