Cricket South Africa has called for a special meeting on Saturday to address the deep crisis situation in the country’s cricket governing body. CEO Thabang Moroe will be seen playing a vital role to restore some order which includes the appointment of the vacant Director of Cricket role.
“This [meeting] will be immediately followed by a media conference to communicate the outcomes and next steps to South Africa via the media, including but not limited to the Director of Cricket role, team selection processes for the England tour, and all other Cricket South Africa issues relevant to the South African public,” Moroe said in a statement.
The CSA CEO sent this statement out on Tuesday evening soon after the board was hit with its first resignation. Professor Shirley Zinn stepped down as an independent member of the board citing problems with CSA’s “principles of corporate governance”. Her decision came in the aftermath of CSA receiving severe criticism from several high-profile voices including former president Norman Arendse for the recent crises. Zinn told South Africa’s Daily Maverick she saw little way forward for the organization under Moroe’s leadership. “I came to the conclusion that after all sorts of efforts to try and improve, speak to the situation and to try and affect change at board level, I had to resign,” the newspaper quoted her as saying on Wednesday. “We fall from one crisis to another and there is no end in sight. I somehow felt if I put up my hand and took this step, for what it’s worth, I might propel this forward in some way.”
CSA is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) over its proposed domestic restructure and is facing severe losses – projections are at Rand 654 million (US$ 44 million approx.) – over the next four-year cycle. Then, on Sunday, CSA revoked the accreditation of five journalists without giving any reason, prompting a backlash from the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) and SACA. Major sponsor Standard Bank even demanded that the Board “clean up their act”.
Graeme Smith, the most successful test captain of all time, is in talks with CSA over the director role but has publicly expressed concerns that he would not be given the freedom to fulfill his mandate. The first test against England begins on Dec. 26 at Centurion.
