Ken Borland

The noose tightened on suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive officer Gerald Majola on Thursday as sports minister Fikile Mbalula announced he was facing both a criminal investigation as well as a civil claim for the repayment of illegal bonuses paid to him by the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Mbalula met with CSA in Johannesburg on Thursday to discuss the further implementation of the recommendations of the Nicholson Committee of Enquiry, which he appointed in October, into allegations of irregular bonus payments and poor corporate governance against Majola.

Judge Chris Nicholson announced on March 13 that Majola had “surreptitiously” received 1.8 million rand (174,000 euro) in unauthorised bonuses from the IPL, as well as irregular travel expenses, in contravention of the Companies Act.
Nicholson recommended that Majola be suspended, the bonus money be recovered and that CSA undergo restructuring of their board and governance processes.

Majola was suspended by the CSA board on March 17, with Jacques Faul appointed as the acting CEO and Willie Basson as acting president.

“We’re satisfied that CSA are implementing the Nicholson recommendations,” Mbalula told a news conference on Thursday. “But the recovery of bonuses was also a very clear recommendation and a civil process will be launched by CSA and included in the disciplinary commission against Majola.

“The Hawks [South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] have also been to CSA and are in the process of their investigation. They’re on top of it, but we don’t know the outcome yet. We have to respect the process because it’s not up to us to arrest people. It was a smooth operation, not done Hollywood style, because that way things get done properly,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula said that for the sake of “stability”, the CSA board of directors would remain in place until the next annual meeting in September.

“It’s just a few months to go for this board and then they can get a fresh mandate. We wanted to address the issues and bring stability to cricket. If we had asked the board to resign, then certain things would not have been done; they’ve put the process in motion,” Mbalula said.

CSA had also agreed to launch a special fund for transformation on May 8, while the steering committee in charge of restructuring their board would now include representatives from the department of sport and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

The chairman of the disciplinary enquiry into Majola has been appointed by the Bar Council and will be John Myburgh SC, while CSA will now approach the Bar to appoint the prosecutor. Mbalula said the deadline for “the completion of the disciplinary procedure is May 31”.

“The board accepts they could have played a better role at the time they were called to do so, but there has been no resistance in going through this process and we are satisfied that we have done our duty,” the sport minister said.

The board of Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Saturday suspended chief executive Gerald Majola pending an independent disciplinary inquiry and agreed to follow the recommendations of the Nicholson Inquiry into the bonus scandal that has engulfed the administration of the game in the republic.

The Nicholson Inquiry, appointed by sports minister Fikile Mbalula, found that Majola had “surreptitiously” received R1.8 million in unauthorised bonuses, as well as irregular travel expenses, in contravention of the Companies Act.

Majola had initially been cleared of any serious wrongdoing by a CSA inquiry headed by acting president AK Khan, who has since resigned.

“The board of directors of CSA considered the recommendations of the Nicholson Committee of Inquiry and, after lengthy deliberations, have resolved to rescind all the findings of the Khan commission and to suspend Majola with immediate effect pending a disciplinary inquiry,” board member Oupa Nkagisang told a news conference in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The CSA board also elected a new acting president to replace Khan in experienced administrator and transformation committee chairman Willie Basson, while Jacques Faul of the North-West province has been appointed acting CEO.

Judge Chris Nicholson had announced on March 9 that Majola should face an independent disciplinary inquiry as well as possible criminal charges. Former ICC president Ray Mali, who chaired Saturday’s CSA meeting, confirmed that outside experts would handle Majola’s disciplinary process.

“We will have to get eminent people, reputable people, so that there are no comebacks. The board will meet on March 30 to decide who will head the disciplinary inquiry, but it has to be an independent person,” Mali said.

Mali said the board had considered dissolving itself.

“The entire issue of dissolving the board did come up, but that can only be decided by the affiliates and provinces. The board also discussed the New Zealand and Australian models of corporate governance and the Lord Woolf document that is at the ICC, but we have to engage the affiliates and outside stakeholders about that. It’s not just a CSA matter.”

The CSA board stopped short of issuing an apology for their backing of Majola, despite Mbalula making a suggestion on Friday that they should all stand down because they have lost the respect of the South African public.

When asked if the CSA board were apologetic, Mali said: “If the spirit of cricket is not there, then it is not palatable, and it has not been there for the last two years. Cricket needs gentlemen and ladies, people who are above board, but things have not gone well.

“The steps we took were based on the recommendations of people we believe were properly qualified – accountants and lawyers,” Mali said.

By most accounts, the final week of testimony in the Nicholson Inquiry should have been severely embarrassing to Cricket South Africa. Their board was described as “dysfunctional” and even CEO Gerald Majola was reduced to tears.

So it was widely anticipated that when they held a press conference at the Wanderers late last week – with the venue being moved to suit the media and reporters being promised they could ask anything – there would be an air of contrition in the air.

There was nothing of the sort.

President AK Khan was his usual slippery self, while Majola was defiant, prickly and downright aggressive at times.

Khan began by admitting: “It would be naive to say there has not been damage to South African cricket. Yes, reputations and relationships have been damaged”.

He then went on to criticise “wild allegations and unnecessary speculations” against CSA, before refusing to commit the organisation to the findings of the inquiry, appointed by sports minister Fikile Mbalula.

“I don’t want to pre-empt anything,” he said when asked if CSA would accept Judge Nicholson’s recommendations.

“The board will determine our response as soon as we receive the report. It would be very unfair to expect us to say ‘yes’ to the findings before we’ve seen the report,” Khan said.

So, in other words, CSA want to see what their punishment is and then decide whether to accept it.

This ridiculous state of affairs is like a convicted criminal telling the judge he will only accept his sentence if it is to his liking!

The CSA board have delayed sorting out the whole Majola bonus scandal for 18 months now and they still have the cheek to expect the South African cricket-loving public to wait while they decide whether the eminent Judge Nicholson has made a fair appraisal of the situation?

The issue should have been put to bed months ago, but the CSA board, who are continually bleating about how, despite most of them being successful businessmen, they “don’t know about corporate law and stuff,” clearly also have no moral compass.

Majola received a bonus from the disgraced Lalit Modi’s organising committee for his brilliant staging of the 2009 IPL, concealed it and then received another massive bonus from CSA for the same work. It’s as cut-and-dried as that and so clearly morally wrong that even a kindergarten kid could figure it out. And never mind the conflicts of interest that arose as the CEO kowtowed to the IPL – thereby earning his bonus – at the expense of his South African constituents, most notably the Gauteng Cricket Board.

Majola is the leader of the denialists, hiding behind his board and blaming everyone else for the mess he created and the cover-up he engineered.

“Ali Bacher did the same thing,” he said. Well Bacher did get a bonus for his running of the 2003 World Cup, but that was all minuted and known about and he most certainly didn’t receive a second windfall for the same work!

“All the issues were dealt with by the board and their decisions were unanimous, Nyoka was a part of that. I presented all the facts to the inquiry and Nyoka did not. He called me a liar, but I won’t call him one,” Majola said.

The word “unanimous” and spurious press releases claiming the players are supporting Majola have been used often by CSA in their disinformation campaign, but I have been personally told by board members after meetings that they have voted against the proposals!

“The terms of reference for the inquiry are not about Gerald Majola and it has nothing to do with me, I was just there to assist. The inquiry is based on whether the board applied their mind in making their decisions,” Majola wriggled out.

My favourite part of the press conference was when Majola began praising his work in hosting the 2009 IPL as the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to South African cricket.

“People don’t understand the magnitude of the spin-offs that tournament has to South African cricket. The entire public benefited, it brought R2 billion into this country. It was the best ever tournament in South Africa and now it’s all been reduced to being about a million rand! I have better things to do with my time … ” Majola raged.

It reminded me of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s hit musical Evita, about Eva Peron, the powerful wife of Argentine president Colonel Juan Peron.

Colonel Peron is telling a press conference how wonderful Evita is and ends with the line “she’s the one who’s kept us where we are”; to which the reporters reply: “she’s the one who’s kept YOU where YOU are”.

To Gerald Majola, I would say, The IPL has kept you flush with cash, but for the rest of us it has been a sordid scandal that has done massive damage to the game in this country.