Cricket South Africa will need to commit to another rebuilding exercise from a culture, commercial and governance point of view, writes Ravi Reddy.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) had a less than memorable couple of weeks. With the recent resignations, dismissals and allegations from former Proteas players, this has turned out to be nothing short of your Grandmother’s favourite soap opera.
Seriously, I was waiting for Stefano or Ridge Forrester to show up at the CSA headquarters at this point.
If you have been living under a rock (for the last 3 weeks at least), this is what you missed:
- The Thami Tsoelikile Saga unfolded to its full extent
- Naasei Appiah was formally dismissed
- Chris Nenzani, President of Cricket South Africa tendered his resignation
- A short while later, Jacques Faul (Acting Chief Executive Officer) also resigned
The last 3 weeks saw the departures of 3 notable individuals in the Cricket South Africa leadership team. Naasei Appiah, the former Chief Operating Officer was dismissed after a lengthy set of disciplinary hearings in the labour court.
A little over 48 hours ago, Christopher Nenzani (who served as the President of CSA since 2013) tendered his resignation with immediate effect. This was shortly followed by Jacques Faul, who replaced Thabang Moroe in an acting capacity. Faul’s resignation came just after a “heated” board meeting. Unfortunately, this is the sign of many more personnel changes to come as the incumbents are all falling like “Toy Soldiers”.
The Board of Cricket South Africa have since announced the appointment of Kugandrie Govender as acting Chief Executive Officer of CSA with immediate effect, a massive statement of intent.
In addition to the drama in the boardroom, there was drama in various studios throughout the country. It’s no secret that South Africa’s former Proteas have shared their views. Some were applauded for their bravery, while others were shunned.
The common factor? Their viewpoints were all seen and heard in SA and around the globe. However, what is most telling was that the rainbow nation euphoria which I grew up with abruptly ended when Makhaya shared his feelings on the Black Lives Matter movement. In lieu of the movement, Ntini shared his experiences of being a Protea in a “predominantly white team”:
Other players of colour also shared their stories, such as Ashwell Prince, one of our most successful middle order batters. We also heard from former proteas such as Monde Zondeki, Garnett Kruger, Robin Peterson, Alviro Petersen about their poor experiences and general mistreatment at provincial and national levels.
Perhaps the most impactful of the recent stories was that of Thami Tsoelikile. Tsoelikile shared his experiences with Robert Marawa from his school’s cricket days to his eventual national call up. There is clearly bad blood between Tsoelikile and current Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith. But more on this later.
So with this in mind, I ask the fans; What would you do in this situation? How will you go about it? Who should be involved?
Yours in peace, love and cricket.
