Ken Borland

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have won a major battle in their disciplinary enquiry against former chief executive officer Gerald Majola and are also making progress in their efforts to restructure their board to align with the recommendations of the Nicholson Committee.

Acting chief executive Jacques Faul revealed in Sandton on Friday that the chairman of the disciplinary enquiry, Advocate Johan Myburgh SC, had handed down an advisory award in favour of Cricket South Africa, finding sufficient reason for Majola to be fired.

Majola and his legal team have not accepted the advisory award, which is non-binding, and the case will now proceed to a full disciplinary hearing, where witnesses and cross-examination can now be included in the process.

In more good news for cricket, Faul also announced that he had withdrawn his resignation letter because those board members who were apparently unhappy with how he carried out his responsibilites now backed him.

“I’ve withdrawn my resignation because I now feel that I have the support of the board. I wasn’t sure before, but I’ve subsequently had numerous calls from board members stating that they back me fully,” Faul said.

A smaller board, with more independent representation and greater corporate skills were amongst the key recommendations made by Judge Chris Nicholson after his hearing into Majola and the bonus scandal, and CSA acting president Dr Willie Basson said this process was still firmly on track and now had the full backing of the board.

“It was a very severe Nicholson report, his findings had great implications and his recommendations were difficult to accept. But after today’s meeting, I can categorically state that there is a very strong resolve to complete the process as closely as possible to the judge’s recommendations,” Basson said.

“The reality is very simple, we had problems with our governance structure and it was at odds with how it is developing across the world. It’s all about smaller boards now, that are more skilled and have more of an independent presence. The board has accepted these proposals and made peace with them.”

The benefits of a smaller, more independent but better skilled board are that cricket should be run more efficiently, they will be better attuned to corporate South Africa and provincial presidents can then concentrate more on their own constituencies, without clouding issues of national importance with their own agendas.

CSA will then be divided into two bodies – a professional board and a members’ forum made up of representatives from all the provinces, associates and aligned bodies.

Basson said a nominations committee would be formed and will provide the current board with a list of people to sit on the new structure.

“The nominations committee will have independent members and will be appointed by the board to identify potential independent board members. Through advertisements and submissions by the public, they will sift through the candidates and then the final choice will be made by the members’ forum,” he said.

In the new structure, the members’ forum will meet perhaps three times a year and decide on broad policies for cricket in the country, while providing “checks and balances” to the board.

The smaller, independent board will meet monthly and be responsible for implementing those policies, the day-to-day operations of cricket and monetary issues.

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.