JOHANNESBURG - One of Cricket South Africa’s primary sponsors has expressed its unhappiness with the manner in which the organisation is being run.
Momentum, which sponsors the national women’s team and limited overs cricket, said Tuesday that it wants to see “a governing body that is run professionally and ethically.”
“We are not satisfied with the current situation at CSA or with the slow progress since we urged CSA in December 2019 to take specific urgent steps to address the governance challenges it has been facing,” said Momentum’s head of sponsorships, Carel Bosman.
Last December, a week after CSA suspended its CEO, Thabang Moroe, Momentum called on the Board of Directors to resign. Since then six Board members, including former CSA president Chris Nenzani, have resigned, but the organisation continues to wallow in controversy leading to the decision to postpone its Annual General Meeting last Saturday.
Last week all 30 contracted Proteas players issued a statement slamming CSA saying it appeared that “politics and self-interest,” were taking precedence over “cricket imperatives and good governance.”
Bosman said Momentum has been in talks with CSA “to keep them accountable to do the right thing.”
“We all want to see a governing body that is run professionally and ethically, and one that considers all stakeholders of the game. Our sponsorship contract expires in April 2021, and we will soon be able to communicate more regarding the outcome of our contract review process,” he added.
Cricket SA struggled to attract sponsors even before the crises of the last two years rocked the organisation and earlier this year another long time sponsor, Standard Bank didn’t renew its partnership.
Moroe was fired two weeks ago, with CSA citing “serious acts of misconduct,” on his part. Moroe has subsequently taken CSA to the Labour Court to fight his dismissal. A decision on whether the matter will be heard is expected later this week.
Moroe was fired on the basis of a forensic investigation commissioned earlier this year by CSA’s highest decision-making body, the Members Council - made up of the presidents of the provincial unions.
However representatives of the Members Council cannot view the report compiled by the independent forensic auditors unless representatives sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and then they can only read the 468-page long report at the offices of CSA’s law firm, Bowman Gilfillan.
Last week the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, with backing from Sports Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, also requested the report but was blocked from seeing it because of the NDA. However, Sascoc’s Board of Directors, which met on Tuesday has told CSA it will not be signing an NDA.
“We have made it clear that we cannot sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, because we might need to manage that report as the macro body,” Sascoc’s acting CEO, Ravi Govender said on Tuesday.
“We will need the latitude to be able to manage whatever recommendations need to be attended to. The Board cannot sign a NDA if it is going to engage. We don’t operate the business in isolation, we operate it as a Board with a membership to respond to,” Govender added.
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