Minister of sport, arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa. Picture: Gallo Images
It says a lot for the speed with which the Cricket South Africa Members Council and the Sports Minister want to have an interim board in place that Nathi Mthethwa could name the new temporary directors as early as Friday. But the haste has also upset several of their affiliates, who feel they have not had sufficient time to apply their minds properly and get the best candidates for the crucial positions.
Mthethwa wants the interim board to comprise nine people – three of them nominated by the Members Council, three by Sascoc and the South African Cricketers’ Association, and three by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
CSA affiliates were apparently sent an e-mail after 9pm on Tuesday night asking for nominations for the interim board, but these had to be in by 11am on Wednesday morning, with full CVs provided. After an outcry from the unions, who complained that the sort of high-profile figures who should be nominated could not be expected to agree to be available and provide detailed CVs at such short notice, the deadline was extended to 11am on Thursday.
But judging by the speculation around who the Members Council have nominated, the names do not fill one with huge confidence – one is a controversial Members Council delegate who has strong links to company secretary Welsh Gwaza and fired former chief executive Thabang Moroe, the second is a former franchise CEO who has been a regular Mr Fix-It for CSA, and the third is someone who no-one in cricket circles seems to know.
But it is essential that quality administrators, strong on corporate governance and cricket knowledge, are appointed because they not only have to oversee the daily running of an organisation that is under immense pressure, but also the redrafting of the Memorandum of Incorporation to ensure the CSA Board is never again embroiled in the sort of regular scandals and mismanagement that have characterised them for the last few years.
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