The South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) has slammed Cricket South Africa (CSA) for missing the deadline to conclude an investigation into suspended CEO Thabang Moroe.
Moroe was placed on temporary leave in December last year after abusing his power as chief executive, which led to CSA president Chris Nenzani launching a six-month investigation into ‘allegations of misconduct.’
The deadline for that investigation expired this past Saturday – with no update or indication whatsoever from CSA on the progress or findings against Moroe.
Instead, Moroe has been paid his full salary since his suspension, which accumulated to more than R2 million for the last six months at close to R350,000 a month.
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In a media release, Saca chief executive Andrew Breetzke on Monday took aim at the CSA board’s failure to complete the investigation on time.
‘It appears as if the COVID-19 pandemic is being used as a convenient excuse for the delay, in spite of the fact that CSA is operationally fully functional at the moment. There appears to be a distinct lack of will at board level to deal with this matter, despite the dire need for finality on this material issue for all stakeholders in cricket.
‘It is interesting to note that there were no such delays in dealing with the numerous other CSA disciplinary matters.’
Moroe has since been replaced by Dr Jacques Faul as the acting CEO of CSA, which also brought about the appointment of Graeme Smith as the new director of cricket on a two-year deal.
‘CSA will point to the forensic audit that has not yet been completed, despite the fact that the crises that have enveloped CSA over the past 18 months are evidence of a prima facie case against Moroe. It is hard to imagine another professional environment where such vacillation on a matter of such importance would be tolerated by a board of directors,’ added Breetzke.
Faul and Smith have been hard at work to secure much-needed revenue for CSA after significant losses in recent years due to misconduct at board level.
CSA has since been in talks with SuperSport to broadcast this year’s edition of the Mzansi Super League after SABC showed the matches for free in 2018 and 2019. Faul and Smith also conducted a trip to India at the beginning of the year and secured a three-match T20I series with them in South Africa for August, which, according to Rapport, could generate R180m for CSA.
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Saca president Omphile Ramela has backed Breetzke’s comments on Monday after trust between the players’ association and CSA broke down towards the end of last year.
‘CSA desperately needs to regain the confidence of the players, public, broadcasters and sponsors, particularly with respect to matters of governance – its failure to bring this matter to a conclusion undermines its efforts in this regard,’ Ramela said.
CSA, however, responded to the comments made by Breetzke by releasing a statement noting Saca’s concerns.
‘This situation is regrettable, and CSA would like to assure all cricket stakeholders of our uppermost intention to ensure absolute transparency on the related forensic outcomes once all of the related processes have been concluded.
‘Further to this, CSA would like to make it clear that the forensic auditors are currently finalising the forensic report and once the auditors have tabled the report directly to the board, CSA commits to sharing the findings of the report, in line with board approval,’ read the statement.
