Ken Borland

South African cricket was plunged into more uncertainty on Wednesday with the news that Cricket South Africa acting chief executive Jacques Faul will stand down on September 15.

The beleaguered organisation was already facing losses of close to a billion rand before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, it has still to make any meaningful progress on the charges laid against former CEO Thabang Moroe after a forensic audit – the contents of which are long overdue – and it is trying to douse the flames of allegations of past racism and criticism that their transformation programmes are a failure.

Faul was appointed by the CSA Board last December following Moroe’s suspension, the second time he has filled in as acting CEO, having stood in for Gerald Majola in 2012/13 after the bonus scandal. Since then he has mended the dysfunctional relationships CSA had with the players’ union and sponsors, ensured there has been no cost-cutting or retrenchments since the pandemic struck South Africa, and got high-profile figures like Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt back involved with the Proteas as the national team looks to rebound from a dismal 2019.

Faul’s initial contract ran through until June, but the CSA Board hired him for an additional three months.

While Faul said he could not comment on his resignation, a CSA Executive told The Citizen on Wednesday that the Doctor of Economic Management Science had e-mailed the Board to say that he will be standing down on September 15 and that he would inform CSA staff on Thursday.

A source close to Faul said the acting CEO was discouraged by the uncooperative relationship he had with some CSA Exco and Board members in trying to secure the financial future of the organisation and ensure that the Proteas remained competitive on the global stage.

Faul will not be lost to cricket, however, and will go back to his previous full-time position as chief executive of the Titans franchise and the Northerns Cricket Union.

Cricket South Africa’s midnight statement saying former CEO Thabang Moroe is still suspended has only heightened the terrible uncertainty around the game in this country, the chief executive of the players’ union said on Friday.

Moroe was suspended on December 6 pending a forensic investigation into his management practices but arrived at the CSA offices in Melrose Estate on Thursday morning, ostensibly seeking to ‘return to work’. His lawyer, Michael Bill, said his suspension had lapsed after six months.

But the CSA Board issued a statement more than 15 hours later saying the “letter of suspension issued to the Chief Executive Officer explicitly stated that he was suspended until the conclusion of the independent forensic investigation” and that there was no predetermined timeframe attached to his suspension. The Board added that the forensic investigators had indicated their report was “imminent” and “there will be more clarity and certainty provided before the end of June.”

The South African Cricketers’ Association issued a warning earlier this week that CSA’s failure to make progress on Moroe’s disciplinary hearing would seriously erode the small gains in confidence in the organisation that have been painstakingly acquired by acting CEO Faul and director of cricket Graeme Smith, and Andrew Breetzke, the players’ union CEO, said on Friday that CSA’s statement did not alleviate the level of suspicion aimed at the Board.

“We’ve taken note of their intention to complete the disciplinary process with haste and that the forensic report is imminent, but there’s no real comfort that it will all be resolved soon. Thabang Moroe has not even been charged yet and history shows their disciplinary hearings have taken six months to complete from the date the person was charged.

“Given the crisis cricket is facing, we need certainty and CSA are just not creating that at the leadership level. It’s critical that President Nenzani answer the important questions because never before have there been so many crises all at once, and major sponsors Willowton, Standard Bank and Momentum have all said they are very concerned over governance,” Breetzke told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

Breetzke said it was also vital that there was transparency over the forensic investigation’s terms of reference, to allay fears that they were only examining the tip of the iceberg in terms of CSA’s financials.

“It’s a real concern that we don’t understand the terms of reference of the investigation because a lot hangs on that. Nenzani said the whole process would take six months and there is clearly evidence because Moroe was suspended based on the reports of the Social and Ethics and Risk and Audit committees. You would have thought the CSA Board would have dealt with this as a matter of urgency and not in such dribs and drabs.

“This is a systemic issue that runs really deep in CSA, but they are the custodians of cricket, not the owners, so all lovers and stakeholders of the game have a right to know. In terms of the court papers SACA have previously filed, there are lots of incorrect figures and significant negligence regarding the second MSL, plus journalists’ accreditation being revoked, so CSA don’t really have to look much further than that,” Breetzke said.

Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat said on Saturday that national coach Russell Domingo’s contract has been extended for another year because they were considering the negative impact uncertainty could have on World Cup preparations.

Lorgat announced on Saturday that Domingo and national team manager Mohammed Moosajee both had their contracts extended to April 2016 by the CSA board, who had met on Friday night.

“We’re very satisfied with the performance of the head coach and manager, in particular during this time of transition with great players retiring over the last couple of years. It has been seamless and the board was very impressed by the way the team grew back to number one in Tests and has migrated up the rankings in ODIs as well,” Lorgat said.

“Our focus is now on the World Cup and the team has progressed very well. We knew their prowess in Test cricket, but Russell is building a very competitive team in ODIs as well. His contract was due to expire at the end of the World Cup in April 2015, but we wanted to take away that uncertainty.”

Lorgat said negotiations over the contracts of Domingo’s eight management members –Adrian Birrell (assistant), Allan Donald (bowling), Claude Henderson (spin bowling), Paddy Upton (performance), Greg King (conditioning), Riaan Muller (logistics), Brandon Jackson (physiotherapist) and Prasanna Agoram (video analysis) – would now commence.

Domingo’s good fortune in terms of his contract was slightly marred by a shock announcement at Saturday’s AGM, which was generally marked by an air of contentment, by Advocate Vusi Pikoli, the chairman of the ethics sub-committee and a former head of the National Prosecuting Authority, that his committee were deeply concerned by the allegations of ball-tampering surrounding the national team.

“The committee wishes to raise its deep concern on the recent reports and allegations of ball-tampering. The committee takes a very dim view of these reports and wishes to send out a strong message that such behaviour cannot be tolerated. Such conduct damages our fragile reputation.

“It’s not about what others do, it’s about our reputation and we urge our lads to take this matter very seriously,” Pikoli said in his report to the AGM.

– http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/domestic/proteas-coach-contract-extended-1.1750447#.VBvlWfmSxe8