Cricket crisis in SA averted with last-minute 11-hour meeting

The Members’ Council and the Interim Board of CSA met on Sunday to deal with all outstanding issues related to amending Cricket South Africa’s Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI).

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Following the meeting which reported took all of 11 hours, the Members’ Council and the Board announced that a crisis has been averted and agreement has been reached on all those outstanding issues.

This agreement will now trigger an expedited process to adopt the MOI in terms of the Companies Act (s60) within 48 hours.

By reaching this agreement, cricket in South Africa has adopted a governance model which is best practice both in South Africa and internationally.

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Acting President of the Members’ Council, Rihan Richards said, ‘The Members’ Council is pleased to have been part of a thorough and fruitful consultative process today.

‘Today is a historic day for cricket in South Africa and we look forward to being part of a new governance structure for cricket and playing our part in ensuring sound administration of the game we hold so dear. I am grateful to my Members’ Council colleagues and the Interim Board for ensuring that we avert a proposed ministerial intervention which would have caused cricket in our country irreparable harm.’

Speaking on behalf of the Interim Board, chairperson Dr Stavros Nicolaou said, ‘Today we reached an important milestone, and I am delighted that the Members’ Council and the Board reached agreement on a new governance structure.

‘We have now successfully managed to fulfill the mandate given to us by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. We trust that this important agreement will give confidence to all cricket’s stakeholders specifically, players, staff, sponsors and all in the country who love the game of cricket. We owed it to our country to find a solution to cricket’s governance challenges.’ 

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Once the s60 process has run its course CSA’s Members’ Council and Interim Board will host a joint press conference and the amended MOI will be made public. Until then CSA will make no further comment on the matter.

In the interests of transparency the Members’ Council and the Interim Board will be sharing the amended MOI with all cricket’s stakeholders including SASCOC.  

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