Troubled Cricket SA unveils plan to implement SJN recommendations

Cricket SA (CSA) has produced an ambitious, five-year strategic plan that the board said will take cricket and the organisation out of its current malaise and regain the trust of the public at large, the stakeholders and the players.

A CSA delegation led by chair Lawson Naidoo, independent board member Muditambi Ravele, president Rihan Richards and acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki appeared before the portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture on Tuesday. They were there to update the committee on the implementation of recommendations from the Social Justice and Nation-building (SJN) report findings.

The committee also demanded answers on embattled head coach Mark Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith, as the SJN hearings had concluded their appointments had been flawed.

The Naidoo-led board has washed its hands of the appointments matter and said they were ratified by the previous board.

“Racism has no place in cricket in the same way it has no place in our society and we must acknowledge that cricket and sports are macrocosms of our society,” Naidoo said during the virtual sitting. “CSA has put in place a five-year strategic plan and transformation runs through that strategy through all facets of the game, from an administrative and governance point of view to the players.”

Acting CEO Moseki presented CSA's strategic plan and gave highlights on how it will be implemented and integrated with findings from the SJN report, including from the Fundudzi Forensic Services report.

Moseki said improper contracts were since flagged and terminated, employee disciplinary matters instituted and finalised and legal advice obtained on civil or criminal recourse where applicable.

Moseki said CSA agrees with the findings from the SJN that the uncomfortable truths facing cricket “are a complex interaction of multiple factors stemming from the history of this country and consequent socioeconomic factors that prevail today”.

An announcement will follow of a series of further steps and actions to transform cricket and align it with the board’s new strategic framework, with access, inclusion and excellence as its three pillars.

The SJN report, among other things, found the appointment of Smith as an independent contractor was highly irregular and contravened CSA’s procurement policy; that the interviews for his appointment were a sham; and that there were serious governance lapses.

The report also concluded that there was unfair discrimination in the appointment of Boucher ahead of Enoch Nkwe.

To implement all the necessary recommendations, according to CSA’s grand strategic plan, specific board subcommittees will deal with matters and report back to the board by the end of February.

The board has grouped the SJN report by themes and clusters. For instance, governance issues or relationships with stakeholders will fall under the ambit of the audit, risk and governance committee. Player remuneration and selection policies will be dealt with by the cricket committee while allegations of racism will be tackled by the social and ethics committee.

There will be a transformation committee that will look into the expansion of cricket facilities and infrastructure in townships and rural areas. A women's cricket committee will be formed, and so will a permanent ombud to deal with grievances.

This in part, said Naidoo, will enable the board to produce an appropriate and consolidated response.

“We hope to have a consolidated view from all of those committees, which we will share with the public, as part of our strategic plans for five years with targets, time frames and accountability put in place,” said Naidoo.

“We will integrate the SJN report findings into our five-year strategy.”

Speculation has circulated on social media that a group of lawyers representing people of interest were in the process of legally challenging the SJN report, but Naidoo said CSA is unaware of such a challenge.

“Certainly there has been speculation in the media but we can assure the committee that we have received no formal official notice by any party of any challenges to that report,” Naidoo said.