JOHANNESBURG - The fate of Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) suspended chief executive, Thabang Moroe, remains a mystery after a lengthy Board meeting on Thursday ended inconclusively.
“Nothing material emerged,” said Moroe’s lawyer, Michael Motsoeneng Bill.
“They (CSA’s Board of Directors) certainly made every attempt to discount every concern that we had and get us to a point where we proceed, notwithstanding the numerous issues that we raised.
“We are concerned about their impartiality and their ability to properly conduct the proceedings,” he added.
Besides confirming the meeting did take place, all CSA was willing to say was that it “did not complete its business and it stands adjourned to a date that will be communicated to (Moroe and his legal team)”.
It is nine months since Moroe was suspended, ostensibly for misconduct and he was one of the subjects of a forensic audit, which was completed in June.
The final report from the forensic auditors has been in CSA’s possession for more than a month and despite the organisation’s president, Chris Nenzani, having told the parliamentary portfolio committee late in June that the report’s findings would lead to quick action, it has been anything but as far as CSA is concerned.
For now, the matter drags on and neither CSA nor Motsoeneng Bill could confirm a date for when the proceedings would continue.
Moroe was furnished with charges emerging from the forensic audit last week and told in a letter to attend yesterday’s meeting, although his legal team were also considering other options, including lodging a case at the Labour Court.
Moroe has been paid his full salary since being suspended last December.
How much of the report will be released to the country is still a matter of debate within CSA. Nenzani has stated that “relevant parts” of the report will be made public.
However, the organisation’s company secretary, Welsh Gwaza, said the report is the “internal property of CSA”.
“The contents of the forensic report are meant to, among other things, assist CSA with reinforcing the requisite governance structures and systems that will safeguard the interests of the organisation going forward,” said Gwaza.
“Equally, this will also assist the organisation to take the necessary remedial, corrective, and concomitant action(s) where wrongs are found to have been committed.
“What this, therefore, means for CSA is that the report remains a critical internal source document for the Members Council and Board to perform its oversight work and therefore the report is not a public document but remains an internal property of CSA.”
It’s not the first time CSA’s administrative structure has been under scrutiny.
In fact less than a decade ago, a government appointed Commission of Inquiry, chaired by judge Chris Nicholson, to interrogate the bonus scandal that eventually led to the axing of Gerald Majola as CEO, made recommendations about CSA’s administration, specifically regarding the Board of Directors.
CSA applied a diluted version of those recommendations taking guidance from the SA Sports Commission and Olympic Committee.
The fact that it did so, and has continued to face administrative problems, can’t leave anyone with any faith that it will take the “necessary remedial, corrective, and concomitant action(s) where wrongs are found to have been committed”, that this latest forensic report - which the organisation’s company secretary would have remain a secret - recommends.
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