“When we first came in we were all taken aback at how much needed to be done; how broken things were.” - Lawson Naidoo, CSA board chair
Telford Vice | Cape Town
IT'S been a while since CSA’s annual meeting wasn’t a flaming match held too close to a dead tree. But Saturday’s promises to be about as easy to set on fire as a kelp forest deep in the ocean. It will also be the organisation’s second annual meeting in less than four months.
“It’s really about the annual financial statements and the integrated report,” Lawson Naidoo, who chairs CSA’s board, told Cricbuzz. “It’s about the statutory compliance matters, making sure we tick all the boxes from a governance point of view.”
Nothing to set alight there, unlike the process that culminated in Naidoo’s election, on June 22, to lead the first majority independent board in CSA’s chequered history. Reaching that point needed government involvement to push the old board — which, in a mockery of governance, was designed to police itself — to resign en masse. That ended years of chronic dysfunction during which CSA lost sponsors, ventured onto shaky ground with broadcasters, squandered their dwindling financial resources, damaged their relationship with the media and all but destroyed the faith of the cricketminded public in their ability to run the game. So, as dull as it would seem, Saturday’s strictly procedural meeting represents a victory for the way matters should be rather than as they were.
“When we first came in we were all taken aback at how much needed to be done; how broken things were,” Naidoo said. “A lot of it stemmed from a breakdown in relationships and trust. Our focus has been on trying to rebuild levels of trust with all of the key stakeholders.”
Sponsors would be at or near the top of that list. “Part of the outreach programme we’ve engaged in is to speak to current, past and potential future sponsors,” Naidoo said. “The response has been, generally, fairly positive. Sponsors see a new opportunity with a new board driving in a new direction, running the business as it should be run — according to proper business principles of openness and accountability.
“Stabilising finances has been another critical focus of ours. We’ve got last year’s financials signed off and we’re pleased that we have a clean, unqualified audit. We’ve set a realistic budget for the current financial year, given the difficulties we find ourselves in with revenue still under pressure and operating in an uncertain environment.”
The coming days will bring details of a five-year plan that, now that the biggest fires have been put out or at least brought under control, will look to put cricket firmly on a path to a brighter future.
“As a board, we’ve basically signed off on it but we still need to discuss it with the members council [the presidents of CSA’s provincial affiliates], which we’re going to do at the weekend,” Naidoo said. “It’s about saying where do we want to see this game in five years’ time and what is it we’re going to have to do to make sure we get it there.”
Next weekend Naidoo will be in Dubai. “The BCCI have invited us to the IPL final [on Friday] because they want to discuss the tour [by India to South Africa in December and January] and a longer term programme. We’re in a good space with them, which is critical.” India pulled out of their tour to England last month with a Test unplayed due to Covid-19 fears, but Naidoo was “confident they will be coming; there’s been a very strong commitment”.
CSA also have a meeting lined up with SuperSport executives while Naidoo is in Dubai. The contract between the two expired in May, but the fact that the current provincial T20 tournament is being broadcast by the channel suggests fences are being mended.
The news could get better yet for cricketminded South Africans, who because of the pandemic haven’t been able to see their teams play in the flesh since March 2020. Naidoo was “hopeful” that “we could have at least some fans in the stadium by December”.
There’s more than the sound of support in South Africa’s players’ ears at stake: “We have this fantastic Indian tour at the end of the year but we don’t know whether we’re going to have fans in the stadiums and whether we’re going to be able to maximise the income potential that it would normally generate for us. One Indian tour is massive, but if our income raising ability is going to be curtailed because of the pandemic that has an impact.”
Cricket in South Africa is a long way from out of its jungle of dead trees. But as long as Naidoo and his board know where the matches are and how to keep them safe, the game won’t get burnt.
First published by Cricbuzz.
Hallelujah! good news at last from the Board of CSA after three years of dysfunctionality and cronyism by previous non elected members more interested in their own self important status than the future of the game. Their self indulgence and petty empire building brought the game to the lowest point of its proud 29 year history. I wish the new Board every success.