Cricket boss ‘hid truth about delay in players’ payment’

The SA Cricketers’ Association yesterday accused Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Thabang Moroe of having full knowledge that players were not paid last year’s image rights for the Mzansi Super League (MSL) until this week.

This was despite the sport’s governing body suspending three other senior officials on Tuesday for what they described as a “lapse in processes”.

Chief operating officer Naasei Appiah, acting director of cricket Corrie van Zyl and head of sales and sponsorships Clive Eksteen were all suspended this week pending an investigation by CSA.

Moroe said the shock move was to “protect the reputation of CSA and the sport of cricket” and to ensure “consistency and accountability remains uppermost in all our processes and procedures”.

But the SA Cricketers Association (Saca) claimed in a statement yesterday that Moroe was highly unlikely not to have known about the delay in payment, which was due on December 24 last year.

“Saca didn’t deal with Appiah on this issue and in its dealings with Van Zyl and Eksteen, over many months, they both expressed a strong desire to resolve the payment issue, but it became clear higher approval to do so was necessary.

“We think it’s highly unlikely that Moroe would not have been aware of this ongoing issue. He was undoubtedly aware of payment obligations as he had signed the original November 2018 agreement.

“Saca also believes that CSA’s persistent refusal to comply with the 2018 MSL agreement for such a long period was simply part of a much wider, systematic attempt to marginalise Saca and the role it plays in protecting the collective interests of the players,” Tony Irish, players’ union’s CEO, said.

The statement showed a timeline of communication with CSA over the issue, with Moroe copied in since at least October 14.

The R2.4 million CSA owed was eventually paid to Saca on Tuesday. But Irish said this only happened because the players were needed for pre-publicity shoots for this year’s MSL on Wednesday, and would not have been obliged to attend if they had not been paid the money due to them.

“Saca believes the 2018 MSL dispute and the signature of the 2019 MSL commercial agreement were only resolved because of the impending player commercial activations scheduled for October 30. In the absence of an agreement, CSA would not have had the rights to use the players in the activations.”

The statement also pointed to the other disputes Saca has with CSA, such as their decision to restructure domestic cricket without consulting the players, as required by the memorandum of understanding with the players’ union; the lack of transparency regarding their financial situation; and Saca being barred from CSA subcommittee meetings since April.

An application brought before the high court by Saca on May 29 has been delayed because CSA are yet to file answering papers.

“Saca accordingly calls upon CSA not only to ensure its investigation into the MSL issue is conducted by an independent person, or organisation, but also that an independent investigation is conducted into these related matters.

“We believe this will ensure the principle of accountability, referred to by CSA’s chief executive, is in fact applied equally, fairly and without fear or favour.

“Saca believes the matters set out above are as important as the MSL commercial agreement issue, if not more so, to protect the interests of players and the game.

“CSA has consistently failed to comply with the time periods prescribed by the rules of court relating to the filing of documents in this application and has yet to file any answering papers.

“This has led to significant delays in proceedings and created uncertainty, and player anxiety, in relation to what will happen in domestic cricket next season,” the players’ union said.

– news@citizen.co.za

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