Ken Borland

The provincial presidents on the Members Council who are in favour of the proposed changes to the governance of Cricket South Africa seem to be taking responsibility for solving the impasse with the Interim Board and Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa as six of the unions have now issued statements supporting a majority independent board and an independent chairperson.

It may still be a case of too little, too late though as Mthethwa mulls what action to take under Section 13 (5) of the Sports Act against CSA for missing their deadline to approve a new constitution ahead of an AGM.

On Wednesday, the Northerns and Mpumalanga cricket unions issued statements supporting the stance of Central Gauteng, North-West, Easterns and Free State that there should be a majority independent board and independent chairperson.

The two Highveld unions also called for all stakeholders to take part in a national indaba, steered by an independent mediator, to resolve the impasse as quickly as possible.

But in his letter to the Members Council on Tuesday night telling them he would be taking action against them according to the provisions of the Sports Act, Mthethwa said “your proposal to convene a multi-party stakeholder conference to deal with a matter that you have been seized with for a number of months, does not make sense to me.”

Because Mthethwa has the authority to no longer recognise CSA, it would mean South Africa could go back to the days of isolation and not have an official national team.

As the sports minister told a radio station on Tuesday night, if things continue the way they are, the world will have to be told there is no cricket in South Africa.

Cricket South Africa sadly faces suspension by the Minister of Sport after Nathi Mthethwa rejected the Members Council’s plea for a seven-day extension to sort out their impasse with the Interim Board over the introduction of a majority independent board and independent chairperson.

Having given the Members Council until 5pm on Tuesday to show cause as to why he should not take action against them following their weekend failure to approve the Interim Board’s governance proposals, Mthethwa informed the provincial presidents on Tuesday night that he considered their response “to fall short of addressing the subject of showing cause why I should not apply the provisions of Section 13 (5) of the Sports Act based on your failure to implement a critical aspect of the mandate I gave the Interim Board”, according to a letter which The Citizen has seen.

The Sports Act allows for Mthethwa to withdraw government recognition of CSA, which would prevent them from participating in international cricket, thus surely leading to their suspension from the International Cricket Council and dooming the local game to amateur status.

There is clearly a massive gorge in opinion between what most observers believe are the minister’s powers and what the Members Council are banking on, because Mthethwa mentions “a lack of alignment with my interpretation of the powers provided to me by the Sports Act”.

Mthethwa points out that in his meeting with the Members Council and the Interim Board 10 days ago, there was agreement on the desirability of a majority independent board. He also mentions a letter the Members Council sent to the Interim Board saying the only remaining item for discussion was the definition of non-independent directors.

“Your proposal to convene a multi-party stakeholder conference to deal with a matter that you have been seized with for a number of months does not make sense to me. … I do not understand what would be achieved by a further seven-day extension when you were part of a conference that announced a roadmap that targeted April 17 as a completion date,” Mthethwa said.

The gorgeous irony is that several provinces are now rallying behind the lead of Gauteng and North-West, who called on the Members Council to approve the new constitution. But it is too little, too late.

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa cleared the air at his meeting with the Cricket South Africa Interim Board and Members Council on Tuesday night and left no-one in any doubt that he supports a majority independent board and an independent chairperson of the board, encouraging the Members Council to remember the mandate and role he gave to the Interim Board last year to restructure the governance of the sport.

The Members Council has been fighting against a majority of seats on the board going to independent directors, obviously because that would cut down on the number of seats available to them, and they refused to adopt a proposed new Memorandum of Incorporation for the new board drawn up by the Interim Board two weeks ago.

With the impasse rapidly developing into all-out war between the two parties, Mthethwa’s joint sitting with them was overdue and he apparently made it clear that the independence of the new board is a vital principle.

The Members Council have now been given until April 6 by Mthethwa to reconsider their position. They will need to meet again with the Interim Board to find common ground and hopefully this time there will be no buccaneer statements from either side.

The meeting between Cricket South Africa’s Members Council and Sascoc was not as successful as CSA’s official statement made out on Tuesday, with a major sticking point being even if the Members Council vets the Sascoc independent task team investigating their affairs, who is going to pay for it?

While the Members Council have agreed to a “collaborative approach in the interest of good governance and executive operations” with Sascoc, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee were apparently not yet able to furnish CSA with the details of who the task team would comprise, how it would function and, crucially, who would take charge of all CSA’s operational functions if the executive management stepped aside as requested by Sascoc.

The mother body, which is also cash-strapped after a series of their own legal disputes, has also stated that CSA should pay for the task team. Figures as high as R40 million for a month’s work have been mentioned.

“We have made some progress and we have agreed to allow Sascoc to investigate what they want to, we are not trying to hide anything. But Sascoc have not been able to tell us how this task team will be structured and if they remove the whole executive team, who is going to run CSA and handle the finances? And the Members Council have said there is no way we are going to pay for the task team,” a Members Council delegate told The Citizen on Tuesday.

“Nobody knows exactly how this task team will happen, but hopefully the follow-up meeting on Thursday will clarify these things,” the Members Council member added.

Another Members Council delegate said it has been amazing to see the growth in unity and purpose within the body, which comprises the 14 provincial presidents and technically has oversight over the Board of Directors, who they appoint.

“It was a fantastic Members Council meeting and we seem to be finally understanding the level of authority that we have,” the cricket administrator said.

Three representatives of the Members Council – Anne Vilas (Central Gauteng), John Mogodi (Limpopo) and Xolani Peter Vonya (Easterns) were meant to hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon but this was postponed in another indication that CSA and Sascoc are not yet on the same page.

The presence of Vonya on the Members Council, never mind speaking for it, is also a point of conjecture because he has allegedly been suspended by his own union, which should then make him ineligible for the body of union presidents. He is one of several administrators with clouds over their heads who are still there on the Members Council.