JOHANNESBURG - Cricket South Africa’s acting president Beresford Williams was once again put under the microscope on Tuesday when it emerged that he was part of a committee that selected Thabang Moroe to become CSA’s chief executive in 2018, even though Moroe wasn’t qualified for the position.
Williams along with former independent directors, Louis von Zeuner, Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Dawn Makhobo and former Border president Thando Ganda formed the group that interviewed and eventually recommended the then 34 year old for the position. Moroe had served as CSA’s vice-president before then.
Von Zeuner resigned from the Board in November 2018 - having served as an independent director for five years - while Makhobo and Khan resigned last December amidst the chaos that ensued following Moroe’s suspension.
Ganda stepped down from the Board in September last year.
While no mention is made about Moroe’s appointment in the summary of Fundudzi’s forensic report which was released last week, it emerged during CSA’s follow-up meeting with parliament’s portfolio committee for sport, art and culture that there are question-marks around Moroe’s appointment. The committee was given access to the full report last Friday, and on page 234 of the 468-page document, it is revealed that Moroe wasn’t fully qualified to be a CEO.
The DA’s Willem Faber highlighted it as a huge concern. “It’s not that we must appoint nice guys,” said Faber, “we need qualified people.”
“How does he get appointed as CEO when he doesn’t have the right criteria? It’s absolutely clear that the problems in CSA started with the appointment of a CEO who wasn’t qualified for the position.”
Cricket SA’s independent director Marius Schoeman, concurred. “That was an astonishing finding,” Schoeman told the committee. “The report also indicates that the advertisement (for the post) was also different from the job description.”
Williams is the only official still working for CSA who sat on that selection committee. It is the second time his name has cropped up in the report. Last week’s summary highlighted a conflict of interest regarding Williams not recusing himself from a meeting about the construction work being done at Newlands. Schoeman said in that matter Williams could be excused given that he was no longer president of the Western Province Cricket Association when those discussions about a CSA loan for the construction took place.
Williams was not around to answer about the Moroe appointment on Tuesday having left the virtual meeting with committee - quite rapidly - after being asked to recuse himself. Some members of the committee were unhappy that people fingered in the report were sitting in the briefing. Cricket SA’s company secretary, Welsh Gwaza, also recused himself, around the time Williams did.
Tuesday’s engagement provided little clarity about a path forward. CSA’s Board had a brief meeting with Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Monday, where he reiterated his support for Sascoc’s measures - which include creating a task team to investigate CSA, and that senior officials including Gwaza and acting CEO, Kugandrie Govender “step aside.”
Schoeman said again CSA was willing “to engage,” with Sascoc, which still hasn’t seen the full report having refused to sign the accompanying Non-Disclosure Agreement. Sascoc had basically given up on dealing with CSA saying the Minister needed to intervene because CSA wouldn’t listen to the olympic body and that it had no money for any litigation that might ensue regarding gaining access to the full report. “I concur that the way forward is that we have to be closer to the minister, we have to engage him.”
Once more it looks like the ball is back in Mthethwa’s court. He is apparently unwilling to step in directly and wants Sascoc’s initiatives put in place, which is exactly what he wanted three and a half weeks ago.
@shockerhess