JOHANNESBURG – Cricket South Africa’s attempts at establishing credibility saw the appointment at the weekend of three independent directors, including a member of the Estate Agency Affairs Board, who is being sued by the EAAB's chief executive officer for defamation.
Vuyokazi Memani-Sedile, Dheven Dharmalingam, and Dr Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, were added to CSA's Board following a meeting at the weekend and join Prof. Steve Cornelius and Marius Schoeman as independent directors.
The trio’s appointment follows the resignations last December of Mohammed Iqbal Khan, Shirley Zinn and Dawn Makhobo in the wake of the maladministration that enveloped the organisation’s administration. Eventually Thabang Moroe was suspended – with full pay – and is currently the subject of a forensic investigation.
All three of the new appointments have strong financial expertise, much like those they are replacing. Memani-Sedile is the director of Finance at Unisa, she was also a former chief financial officer at the National Gambling Board and is currently an independent director with the Cancer Association of South Africa.
Dharmalingam has served on the board of the Habib Bank of Zurich as an independent director for the last nine years, and is a former CFO at Mutual and Federal.
Kula-Ameyaw describes herself as a “social entrepreneur and strategist” on her website. She currently serves as non-executive director at LA Crushers, a load and hauling services company operating out of Limpopo, is executive chair of the the Black Women Organisation SA. She also previously served as the Business Support Manager at Eskom, a position she held for 10 years between 2007 and 2017 and is also currently an EAAB Board member.
It was in that latter role that Kula-Ameyaw incurred the wrath of the EAAB’s chiefexecutive, Mamodupi Mohlala. According to reports, Kula-Ameyaw had informed Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu via a letter last October about “the current CEO’s conduct and corporate governance violations”. As a result, earlier this year, Mohlala launched a R1.5-million defamation lawsuit against Kula-Ameyaw.
Memani-Sedile, Dharmalingam and Kula Ameyaw’s tenures as non-executive directors at CSA will run until September’s Annual General Meeting where they will be eligible for re-election. If successful they will serve a three year term – starting from that month.
What the future holds for the non-independent directors, like current CSA president Chris Nenzani and his deputy Beresford Williams, remains to be seen. Jack Madiseng is the only non-independent director to resign from the Board following the suspension of Moroe.
@shockerhess