Cricket South Africa’s (CSA’s) AGM this month was notable for several reasons. Not only did it post a healthy R815m profit, but board chair Lawson Naidoo said goodbye to cricket.
“I feel a deep sense of pride and optimism for the future of cricket in South Africa. We are in a much healthier space than we were just a few short years ago,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo was the last link to the first board after the establishment of an interim board under the auspices of then minister of sport Nathi Mthethwa. He presided over the game at a fractious time and brought stability in a time of instability but showed no aptitude for outward-facing leadership.
Indeed, with Steven Budlender, who occupied the lead independent position in the first post-interim board no longer there, Naidoo was the last vestige of the old. This, with the exception of Rihan Richards, who was re-elected president of the members’ council, is CSA’s second tier of administration.
The meeting did not decide on Naidoo’s replacement, but the FM understands that his likely successor will come from one of two independent board members: either Ntambi Ravele or Pearl Maposhe.
This year’s meeting was notable for other reasons. Just days before, an arbitration order was brought by Border Cricket to the effect that noncompliant unions should be allowed to vote. Compliance is difficult to define in a sentence, but basically amounts to having your house in order.
At the very least, affiliates to CSA should have had their own AGMs before the national body and their financials should have been audited. The FM understands that Border was one of the provinces that was not compliant.
Border’s motion, however, was upheld, a victory for its unpopular president, Simphiwe Ndzundzu. The upshot was that noncompliant unions could vote for their preferred candidates at both the members’ council level (made up of provincial presidents, such as Ndzundzu) and board level.
Not only did this mean egg on the face of CSA and its governance agenda, which encourages compliance, but it meant that fly-by-night unions — Northern Cape Cricket and Border are regular malefactors — could continue as they please with impunity.
Whether by culture or design, the tail appears to wag the dog at CSA
If there is a running sore in an otherwise optimistic landscape, it is just this. Whether by culture or design, the tail appears to wag the dog at CSA. Through politics or lack of institutional will, the national body seems unable to hold recalcitrant provinces to account.
Cricket fans in this country, with the older ones jaundiced at the rolling crises in cricket, were led to believe by the interim board that a new governance dawn would be ushered in with a new constitution. That doesn’t appear to have been the case. A culture of impunity is alive and well in the summer game.
On a brighter note, the Protea side reached the T20 World Cup final, losing to India, while the women, despite behind-the-scenes ructions, performed beyond expectations in reaching their first World Cup final too. The under-19 World Cup was successfully hosted at the beginning of the year, swelling CSA’s coffers.
So cricket seems to have weathered the post-Covid storm and seems relatively free of the serial nonsense that passed for normality under previous CEOs Thabang Moroe and Kugandrie Govender.
The SA20, the local T20 tournament, is a favourite, and the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA), which was close to bankruptcy, has been stabilised thanks to CSA’s help.
Profits from the SA20 netted the national body R54m, while Corrie van Zyl, a veteran cricket player, coach and official, is acting CEO at the WPCA. In Johannes Adams, the WPCA also appear to have a president whose heart is in the right place.
This said, South African cricket is still besotted with race politics. Surely the Springboks have demonstrated that there is no currency in elite international sport other than planning, execution and high-order excellence. The apparatchiks in flannels beg to differ.
But we should not be churlish. Cricket is better off than it was in the recent past, the debacle of the two-day Test at Newlands against India 10 months ago notwithstanding. The calendar is set, the Proteas continue to do the nation proud, and in Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram, the team has two stars of the international game.
Things might yet get better. But they could also be considerably worse.
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