Cricket South Africa challenged by Gauteng

The Central Gauteng Lions (CGL) and Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) have demanded the resignation of Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Thabang Moroe as well as the complete restructuring the board of directors at the governing body.

This was revealed at an emotionally-charged public meeting held at the Imperial Wanderers Stadium on 5 December, which gave cricket fans, sponsors and stakeholders an opportunity to discuss issues at CSA with the GCB, lead by CGL CEO Jono Leaf-Wright who himself is a member of CSA’s cricket committee.

“It is an insult to players and fans what has been allowed to happen [at CSA],” said former first class cricketer, Hugh Page, who helped organise the meeting and chaired it in the Wanderers Long Room.

“We want a board [at CSA] that supports the game and without fans there is no game, and it looks like we are headed that way. Trust was broken.”

Roughly 100 community members, many associated with local cricket clubs, attended to express their dissatisfaction at a perceived deterioration in the administration of the organisation running their favourite sport in South Africa.

Stuart Hess, one of five prominent journalists who had their media accreditation revoked by CSA the weekend before because of their coverage of CSA’s woes, was in attendance.

. Stuart Hess, one of the five prominent journalists who had his media accreditation withdrawn by CSA recently, speaks about it @Rk_Gazette pic.twitter.com/efUck32dMn

— Nicholas Zaal (@NicholasZaal) December 5, 2019

“We were told that the reason for our accreditation being revoked was that Cricket South Africa didn’t like the story we were writing, and it [our accreditation] was subsequently reinstated,” he said.

“I am here tonight at Gauteng cricket to see what they have to discuss about the drama going on at Cricket South Africa at the moment.”

Leaf-Wright said the revoking of media accreditation was a ‘tipping point’ in CGL’s decision to take a strong stance against CSA.

He compared the procedures in place at CSA to those at CGL, saying how communication, integrity and accountability were worlds apart between the organisations.

Former Proteas cricketer and Lions cricket captain, Stephen Cook, who had recently been a board member of South Africa Cricketers’ Associations (Saca), told attendees that what the five journalists experienced was a continuation of CSA’s ignoring of Saca and even barring them from important meetings.

Former Protea Adam Bacher and founder of Lenasia Premier League, Ziyaad Desai, both congratulated the CGL board on taking such a strong stance against CSA and putting the sport first.

Randburg Cricket Club’s Jody Martins, on the other hand, questioned how much evidence there was really to demand such strong measures at CSA.

In reply, former Western Province Cricket Association lead independent director, Fagmeedah Petersen-Cook, divulged how CSA ‘played games’ with the funding of the Newlands Stadium redevelopment, and Page said the CGL board was aware of things said behind closed doors, that they would not divulge in public but which also helped their decision to take a strong stance.

The meeting broke up in a positive light with everyone agreeing that they could strengthen cricket’s public image if they worked together.

CSA’s woes

Issues at CSA were first brought to public attention when interim director of cricket Corrie van Zyl, commercial manager Clive Eksteen and COO Naasei Appiah were immediately suspended. This believed to be in connection with a payment dispute with players in last year’s Mzansi Super League.

Other issues arose ranging from poor communication in CSA’s funding of the Newlands Stadium redevelopment in Cape Town, to credit card irregularities at the governing body’s head office.

Since then, CSA board members Iqbal Khan and Shirley Zinn resigned.

Related Article:

https://northeasterntribune.co.za/248292/cricket-south-africas-ceo-suspended/