Ken Borland

South African Cricketers’ Association president Omphile Ramela on Wednesday said the leadership of Cricket South Africa has taken the game to the brink of “total collapse” and called for intervention at Board and management level.

On the same day that CSA announced chief commercial officer Kugandrie Govender as the new acting chief executive following the immediate resignation of Jacques Faul, the players’ union issued a statement slamming the organisation for the current crises, which they say threaten the future of the game in this country.

“Instead of facing these crises, CSA is embroiled in destructive politics at Board and management level. It is evident that cricket is unable to self-correct. With the CSA AGM looming, the reality is that many of the administrative challenges confronting the game are as a result of administrators failing to adhere to principles of corporate governance.

“A number of affiliates have crises of their own, and it is these structures that provide leadership to CSA. Before we see the total collapse of the game of cricket there needs to be a leadership intervention at Board and management level that is able to stabilise and transform both the game and the business of cricket,” Ramela said.

SACA said the level of crisis within CSA is now up to the point where the players themselves feel that their livelihoods as professional cricketers are threatened.

“SACA has engaged directly with players over the past few weeks and there is a growing realisation amongst players that their careers as professional cricketers are being threatened by the very organisation that should be nurturing them. SACA has consistently called for certainty and consistency in the governance and management of the game.

“The sudden resignation of both the President and Acting CEO is clear evidence that cricket in South Africa is at war with itself. Mr Nenzani owes all stakeholders an immediate explanation as to why he has stood down a mere three weeks before the CSA AGM, after he had refused to do so over the previous eight-month period despite calls to do so from key stakeholders within the game. Together with the sudden resignation of Dr Jacques Faul as Acting CEO, one can only deduce that the Board of Directors has yet again reached a level of dysfunctionality that threatens the existence of the game in our country,” Andrew Breetzke, the CEO of the players’ union, added.

The South African women’s cricket team’s hopes of playing internationally this year seem to be crumbling into dust with no real effort being made by the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture to pay anything more than lip-service to their stated intention of uplifting women’s sport.

On Tuesday Cricket South Africa were forced to turn down an invitation from world champions England to play five women’s ODIs and two T20 internationals next month due to government not being willing to relax their international travel restrictions.

That would be understandable if it weren’t for the fact that the England and Wales Cricket Board had offered a chartered flight with all necessary health protocols to fly the Proteas team over. Government have also already granted certain sportsmen permission to travel overseas and compete. Repatriation flights and some business travel have also been allowed.

“It is frustrating that another opportunity for our Momentum Proteas to play against top-quality opposition has again had to be cancelled, but as always the safety of our players and support staff is the prime consideration, ” CSA director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Clare Connor, the managing director of England women’s cricket, sounded even more frustrated.

“I am immensely disappointed. We have been committed from the outset to deliver the same bio-secure standards for both men’s and women’s international cricket, an investment that included exclusive hotel use for teams, chartered flights and medical provisions. An ECB team, with support from the county ground in Derby, has created a dedicated behind-closed-doors environment to host all of our women’s internationals,” Connor said.

While the Ministry did not respond to a query for comment, they have been users of punitive measures against sporting federations that were not in their good books before. When CSA appeared before the sports portfolio committee recently, they were castigated by Minister Nathi Mthethwa for their “all-White management”.

President Chris Nenzani and acting CEO Jacques Faul have since resigned, but it would be no surprise if the ministry, often ill-informed on events on the inside of sporting organisations, have now also jumped on the anti-Smith bandwagon and are trying to make his life more difficult.

Cricket South Africa was plunged into monumental chaos on Monday as acting chief executive Jacques Faul resigned with immediate effect, hot on the heels of long-term president Chris Nenzani standing down.

The departure of Nenzani, who has been the longest-ever serving president, having been elected for the first time in 2013 and extending his term twice through constitutional amendments, was confirmed by CSA in a statement released on Monday morning.

But, according to CSA sources, Faul also tendered his immediate resignation on Monday. He had announced at the end of last month that he would step down from his role as acting CEO on September 15, his initial appointment from December 2019 to June having been extended on a month-to-month basis.

It is believed the CSA Board has stripped Faul of his powers, which is why he has decided to leave the embattled organisation immediately.

Faul was thrust into the role of acting CEO after Thabang Moroe was suspended nine months ago, triggering a forensic audit and a disciplinary process which to this day has still not been finalised, even though the Board have been sitting with the report for weeks.

Last December, CSA were facing deficits of close to a billion rand, fighting the players’ association in court, had alienated major sponsors and cancelled the accreditation of five journalists who had been critical of Moroe and the organisation. And the Proteas were seemingly in freefall just before the arrival of the England team.

Since then, Faul has ensured there have been no retrenchments through the Covid-19 pandemic and mended relationships with the players’ association, sponsors and media. The appointment of Graeme Smith as Director of Cricket and then Mark Boucher as Proteas head coach saw the team rally somewhat, beating a powerful Australian side 3-0 in an ODI series at the end of the summer.

It is believed company secretary Welsh Gwaza, a strong supporter of Moroe, will now be the acting CEO.

Gwaza is emerging as a powerful new figure within the organisation and he is also the current acting president until the CSA Members Council elect a temporary replacement for Nenzani, who stepped down just three weeks before the AGM to elect a new president on September 5.

CSA gave no reasons for Nenzani’s resignation, but an insider told The Citizen that they were told Nenzani had resigned “because of the cloud over CSA, too much is pointing back to the organisation and he wants to help clear the path for a new leader”.

Another insider pointed to the increasing influence of independent director and chairperson of the Transformation Committee, Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, who “is now running the whole show”.

A new power struggle is emerging with long-time Nenzani and Moroe supporters Beresford Williams, the current vice-president, and controversial Eastern Province Cricket Union head Donovan May believed to be mounting campaigns to succeed Nenzani.

KwaZulu-Natal president Ben Dladla, who has helped rebuild a strong Dolphins franchise, is also rumoured to be in the running, although he has not been a member of the CSA Board. Northerns Cricket Union president Tebogo Siko, a Board member since last September, is also perhaps in contention.

But in the shadowy world of secret CSA meetings and internal politics, credible leadership has been in short supply.

Chris Nenzani has resigned as Cricket South Africa president bringing to an end a seven-year reign that has left the sport on the brink of collapse and in surely it’s most unhappiest place ever, but funerals for the careers of several other long-standing CSA administrators might not be on the immediate horizon.

Cricket South Africa gave no reasons for Nenzani’s resignation in their statement on Monday morning, which comes just three weeks before his record-breaking term, twice extended by constitutional amendments, was due to come to an end at the AGM on September 5.

An insider told The Citizen that they were told Nenzani had resigned “because of the cloud over CSA, too much is pointing back to the organisation and he wants to help clear the path for a new leader”.

Another insider pointed to the increasing influence of independent director and chairperson of the Transformation Committee, Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, who “is now running the whole show”.

Typically of an organisation in chaos, there has been some confusion over who is now acting as president. It had been presumed that vice-president Beresford Williams would step up to president in an acting capacity, but it seems the MOI states that the Members Council will have to elect the acting president. That is expected to be done in the next couple of days, but in the meantime company secretary Welsh Gwaza, a controversial figure with strong ties to suspended CEO Thabang Moroe, will be acting president.

CSA’s administrators are mostly all about power though and Nenzani’s departure has ensured a slightly earlier start to the jostling to replace him. The likes of Williams, a former Western Province Cricket Association president, and Donovan May, the controversial Eastern Province Cricket Union president, and both firm supporters of both Nenzani and Moroe in recent years, are both believed to be making bids for the presidency.

There are few people on the Board who have ornate enough CVs to be considered credible presidential material, however. Tebogo Siko, the president of the highly successful Northerns Cricket Union, is possibly going to make a run for president, but he has only been on the Board since last September.

An outsider who could really rock the boat is KwaZulu-Natal president Ben Dladla. The Dolphins have enjoyed an impressive resurgence under his watch and it is believed the Durbanite will stand for the presidency as well.

Given the low bar set by the current Board, a fresh face, untainted by the excesses of the previous years, is probably just what cricket needs in its current dire situation.