In the interest of fairness, Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa has given Cricket South Africa (CSA) until 5PM on 27 October 2020 to make written representations, should they wish to, on why he should not exercise his decision to intervene as enjoined by the laws of the country.
“The ball is firmly in the court of CSA,” said Mthethwa in a statement.
This is following a series of meetings with CSA and mostly recently a meeting on 12 October.
Now Mthethwa has sent a letter to its Acting President, Beresford Williams after efforts were made over several months to try and assist the national cricket body to stabilise its governance matters.
This, after a huge outcry regarding the failure of its leadership to effectively manage its affairs, Mthethwa explains.
“Having evaluated the discussions, as well as the subsequent reporting on this matter, I have now reached a point where I see no value in any further engagement with CSA.” added the Minister.
When the Sascoc initiative yielded no positive results also, Mthethwa personally held several meetings with the federation’s board and met with the Members Council.
According to Mthethwa, he strongly believes there is great merit in creating an environment where sports problems are handled within the sports movement, and accordingly wishes to offer them every possible opportunity to demonstrate their stated commitment to cooperate on a way forward for cricket.
Furthermore, Mthethwa has given notice of government intervention to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the affairs of CSA.
An example of how things can go wrong is far from us, our Zimbabwe was the first full members to be suspended by the ICC in July last year. At the time, Zimbabwe’s Sports and Recreation Commission had suspended the Zimbabwe Cricket board and a board member’s complaint to the ICC had resulted in a unanimous decision to suspend Zimbabwe on the grounds of government interference. Zimbabwe was reinstated and the Zimbabwe cricket board was given their positions back.
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