The war on cricket, by cricket and for cricket

“The sudden resignation of the president and acting chief executive is clear evidence that cricket in South Africa is at war with itself.” - SACA

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

War is not a descriptor to be used without careful consideration, especially in matters as comparatively trivial as cricket. But it isn’t difficult to understand why South Africa’s players took the nuclear option on Wednesday.

In a release issued to highlight “that the crises that currently engulf Cricket South Africa (CSA) threaten the very existence of the game in South Africa”, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) said, “The sudden resignation of both the president and acting chief executive is clear evidence that cricket in South Africa is at war with itself.”

Chris Nenzani resigned on Saturday, ending a tenure of more than seven years as president, too many of them spent apparently looking on passively while CSA went on a rampage of self-harm. On Monday, acting chief executive Jacques Faul, a widely respected figure, walked out. Nenzani and Faul have been replaced by vice-president Beresford Williams and chief commercial officer Kugandrie Govender, both in acting capacities — which could lead to jokes that CSA have so many prominent “actors” around they might win an Oscar.

Even at the best of times, such uncertainty and resultant governance concerns would be troubling. But these are far from the best of times. Long before Covid-19 changed everything we thought we knew about anything, CSA was a managerial, financial and ethical mess. Faul’s appointment in December, after chief executive Thabang Moroe’s deeply damaging tenure of more than two years was halted by his suspension, helped clean up the chaos.

Then came the pandemic, which has had an alarming impact on CSA’s ability to organise the game, and an increasingly chaotic argument over racism in cricket that has veered towards untruth and mercenary behaviour, perhaps not least because CSA could be planning to pay reparations to victims.

Faul’s voluntary removal from the equation — a decision he has ascribed to having “lost control of performing key operational duties” — appears to have been the last straw for SACA, which took aim at the real villains of the piece: Nenzani and his delinquent board.

“Mr Nenzani owes all stakeholders an immediate explanation as to why he has stood down a mere three weeks before the CSA annual meeting [on September 5], after he had refused to do so over the previous eight-month period despite calls to do so from key stakeholders within the game,” SACA chief executive Andrew Breetzke was quoted as saying. “Together with the sudden resignation of Dr Jacques Faul as acting chief executive, one can only deduce that the board of directors has yet again reached a level of dysfunctionality that threatens the existence of the game in our country.”

CSA’s relationship with the players, which last year dwindled to the level of SACA taking legal action against the suits to be paid, was put back on track by Faul. But, according to the release, it has since taken a knock: “SACA has engaged directly with players over the past few weeks, and there is a growing realisation amongst players that their careers as professional cricketers are being threatened by the very organisation that should be nurturing them.”

SACA demanded that “CSA must show leadership in dealing with the various crises facing the game; the transformation and discrimination crisis that has come to the fore over the past two months; the resumption of domestic and international cricket under Covid-19; the finalisation of the disciplinary matter of the suspended chief executive; the forensic investigation [focused on Moroe but looking at all areas of CSA’s business]; and the forecast deficit [which could be USD58.1-million by the end of the 2022 rights cycle] which has the potential to financially cripple the game”.

Omphile Ramela, SACA’s president, drew attention to the plight of CSA’s provincial affiliates, all of which are dependent on CSA for funding and some of which have been infected by questionable ethics: “Instead of facing these crises, CSA is embroiled in destructive politics at board and management level. It is evident that cricket is unable to self-correct. With the CSA annual meeting looming, the reality is that a number of affiliates have crises of their own, and it is these structures that provide leadership to CSA.

“Many of the administrative challenges confronting the game are as a result of administrators failing to adhere to principles of corporate governance. Before we see the total collapse of the game of cricket there needs to be a leadership intervention at board and management level that is able to stabilise and transform both the game and the business of cricket.”

Now that CSA have appointed their first female chief executive, albeit not permanently, might they be ready to act on the wisdom of another woman, Margaret Atwood, who wrote: “War is what happens when language fails.” Are we there yet?

First published by Cricbuzz.