Ken Borland

Cricket South Africa’s Interim Board have clarified the process for the appointment of independent directors and, as long as the Members Council are still behaving like adults and have given the new MoI majority approval by 11am on Wednesday morning, what the new constitution says about the recruitment of new board members will be thoroughly explained to the public.

The Interim Board on Wednesday morning disputed suggestions published by The Citizen that they have any knowledge of who the applicants to be independent directors are and that they play any role in drawing up a shortlist for the Nominations Committee.

“The Interim Board does not know who has applied and will not be involved in the nominations process other than recruiting one former CSA president to serve on the Nominations Committee. All the applications are under lock and key in the office and will be passed on directly from the office to the Nominations Committee as soon as they are in place,” Interim Board spokeswoman Judith February told The Citizen.

The Interim Board hope to make the whole Memorandum of Incorporation public once the Special Resolution accepting it has been confirmed and will hold a briefing to take the media through the process thereafter.

The Nominations Committee also needs to be put in place later this week and that six-member panel will comprise either a men’s or women’s former international player nominated by SACA, alongside a former CSA president nominated by the Interim Board, a Members Council representative and people from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Directors and the Legal Practice Council.

“The Interim Board is certainly not going to be appointing the new board and according to our agreement with the sports minister, nobody from the Interim Board is going to be standing for the new board,” February added.

While a majority independent board and an independent chair have been the most well-publicised aspects of the new Cricket South Africa constitution eventually agreed to by the Members Council, the process by which independent directors are appointed is another vital pillar of the new MoI … and it is now raising concerns among stakeholders in the game.

The MoI puts into place a Nominations Committee which will be a six-person panel comprising either a men’s or women’s former international player nominated by SACA, alongside a former CSA president nominated by the Interim Board, a Members Council representative and people from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Directors and the Legal Practice Council.

The only problem with the Nominations Committee is that their word is final and the non-independent directors, or anyone else, are not allowed to object to the names they come up with.

The dangers of that clause are brought into focus by the first board that will serve under the new MoI. Because the Nominations Committee will only exist after the new constitution is formally adopted on Wednesday, they will be picking from a list that the Interim Board have seemingly put together from the applicants who put themselves forward before the cut-off date for applications, which was in February.

It is hardly an independent process because nobody knows who applies and who handled the applications, apart from the Interim Board.

Given the schisms in South African cricket that are obviously still present even though they will ‘officially’ be signed away on Wednesday, there is still an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty out there, and that has led to all manner of speculation and rumour about who CSA’s new directors will be.

The return of Norman Arendse, president of CSA from 2007 to 2008 and a controversial figure because of his continued interference in the selection of the national team, has been mooted, while some administrators have warned of a new wave of cadre deployment as they fear Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa wants to drive the ANC agenda in cricket.

Other administrators have called for the institution of an independent administrative office to handle applications for independent director posts, which would then pass them on to the Nominations Committee, with independent auditors exercising oversight through the whole process.

The process of appointing independent directors has the potential to be the new battleground of South African cricket.

It took the most gruelling of meetings, but after 11 hours of intense wrangling, the Cricket South Africa Members Council on Sunday night finally agreed to the new constitution proposed by the Interim Board, marking the end of the crisis in cricket that would have led to Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa withdrawing their recognition at the end of the week.

The Members Council met on Saturday afternoon and then went into a meeting with the Interim Board from 10am on Sunday. The initial attitude of the Members Council seemed to be that CSA should “defend” their autonomy against the Minister’s looming action, especially since Sascoc issued a strong rejection of having a majority independent board in a statement on Saturday.

But with the threat of irreparable harm being done to the game if they were suspended by the minister, agreement was eventually reached on all the outstanding issues that prevented the Members Council from approving the MoI last weekend.

Sascoc, who have warned CSA that they could have their membership of the mother body suspended if they agree to an majority independent board and an independent chair, will obviously still be an obstacle, but it is believed Mthethwa will be handling that side of the conflict.

CSA issued a communique half-an-hour before midnight on Sunday night, the headline of which included the gorgeous words “Joint Statement” indicating agreement had finally been reached and a catastrophe averted. In terms of Section 60 of the Companies Act, an expedited process has now been triggered which will see the MoI being adopted in the next 48 hours.

“By reaching this agreement, cricket in South Africa has adopted a governance mode which is best practice both in South Africa and internationally,” the statement said. Both Members Council president Rihan Richards and Interim Board chair Dr Stavros Nicolaou were then quoted expressing their delight at the cessation of hostilities.

Cricket South Africa have been de-recognised by Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa in a move that will have serious consequences for the sport in this country.

The failure of the Members Council to accept a new constitution that would institute a majority independent board and an independent chair has led Mthethwa to take drastic action. He and the Interim Board he put in place at CSA have been negotiating with the Members Council since the end of January to try and get the new MoI approved.

The Members Council have called a meeting for Saturday afternoon and there have been suggestions that, far from finally caving in, they will look to take legal action against the Minister to try and prevent him from invoking his powers as laid out in the Sports Act. But the fact that they have to get approval from the Interim Board in order to launch any legal action suggests that route is also denied to them.

Losing the recognition of government will have major effects on CSA, both financially and in terms of the Proteas men’s and women’s teams.

It is believed many of their sponsorship deals will have clauses in their contracts making them dependent on CSA being the recognised body running cricket in this country. In these economically constrained times of Covid, sponsors looking for an excuse to pull out now have a watertight reason. It is also believed that four potential sponsors that were lined up to come on board later this year have now withdrawn their interest.

The International Cricket Council have been kept up to date on developments in the crisis by Mthethwa and they have been happy to take a back seat because the Sports Minister’s involvement is seen as being a bid to improve the governance of the sport.

But Mthethwa’s de-recognition of CSA now means they are not allowed to use the Proteas emblem or the national flag. Any teams they choose will not represent the country and, in fact, government could deny the teams the right to leave the country or block overseas sides from entering.

Rebel touring teams have been a controversial part of South Africa’s cricket history, and now the national side itself could be considered a rebel team.

It is at this stage that the ICC will have to take action because technically any match involving the ‘Proteas’ would be a friendly, unofficial contest. That would seriously detract from the international game.

The other major blow that will strike CSA will be the cancellation of broadcast deals. The amounts being paid for broadcast rights have been decreasing recently, mirroring a lessening of interest in the product, and the current broadcast deals will be premised on the actual Proteas playing proper international cricket.

No broadcaster will be willing to part with their millions of dollars to show what will amount to friendlies because no cricket involving or played in South Africa will have official standing.