Cricket South Africa (CSA) held a successful Annual General Meeting today at which Mr Rihan Richards was elected as President and Mr Donovan May as Vice-President, both by unanimous vote. 

The following seven independent directors were appointed by the Independent Directors Nominations Panel: Steven Budlender SC, Andrew Hudson, Dugmore Lushaba, Lawson Naidoo, Andisa Ntsubane, Mark Rayner, Muditambi Ravele. 

The meeting was adjourned to next Wednesday evening when the eighth independent director will be appointed as well as for the appointment of the Chair and Members of the Audit and Risk Committee. 

The following non-independent directors were elected: Daniel Govender, John Mogodi, Craig Nel, Tebogo Siko and Simphiwe Ndzundzu. 

The chair of the Board and the Lead Independent Director (LID) will be elected at the first meeting of the new Board. 

The new CSA Board will plan for this year’s AGM in September as the matters dealt with today refer to the previous financial year that finished in April 2020. 

Price Waterhouse Coopers were appointed as independent auditors for the past financial year. 

In his address to the meeting Mr Richards said the important learning from the past year had been the need for a unified cricket family and to rectify what had gone wrong in the past. 

“It is important that we hold everybody to account and never accept anything at face value without a thorough interrogation. 

“The challenge that faces us as leadership is to lead righteously, promote the interest of CSA above all else, ready ourselves to be the servants of the game and the nation, continue to seek and promote what is right. Let us continually remind ourselves that it is not about us but about the game.” 

In a short address the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, who attended the meeting by invitation, said: 

“I want to start by affirming what the acting president has said about rectifying the situation. You will be taking charge of CSA’s destiny by electing a new leadership. Thank you for the trust you have placed in my department to get involved and now to withdraw from this situation. The journey to this meeting has been long. It will serve no purpose to recount the obstacles we encountered along the way as that will detract from the hard work that has been put in. I trust that the new board will treat the mandate of the interim board with seriousness and the necessary zeal to implement it. 

“May cricket be the winner!” 

The chair of the outgoing Interim Board, Dr Stavros Nicolaou, hailed the AGM as the start of a new era. 

“It is highly appropriate that we have reached this historic moment in the transformation of our governance model as we prepared to celebrate the 30^th birthday of Cricket South Africa (CSA) or the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) as it was originally known in just over two weeks’ time. 

“And, indeed, what a fine way to celebrate it! We have now completed a process that had its roots almost a decade ago in the recommendations of former Judge Chris Nicholson, a great lover of our game, who also played a major role in keeping the spirit of non-racial cricket alive in very difficult times. 

“Our new Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) is a document we can all embrace with pride as it puts us in a position to execute the best governance practices that will make CSA able to stand comparison with any other sporting organisation around the globe. It is a world-class document.”