Proposed CSA board revamp set to face opposition from within – reports

A proposed restructuring of the board of troubled governing body Cricket South Africa (CSA) is reportedly set to meet opposition even before being announced.

The interim board of CSA have been charged with implementing a number of structural changes to the organisation, among them an overhaul of the board that will run cricket in South Africa from day to day.

CSA board restructuring faces opposition

The interim board have floated a proposal that the incoming board swell to 13 members, with a majority of those positions being occpied by independent directors. A draft proposal leaked to the press also calls for a chairperson who has no cricket affiliation.

A potential sticking point for CSA is that the proposals effectively limit the power of the Member’s Council which represents the provincial unions and their member clubs.

The Member’s Council are represented on the interim board by its chairperson who is currently acting CSA president, Rihan Richards.

Richards confirmed that the Member’s Council would only offer comment once all submissions from member clubs had been recieved and discussed.

For some time the CSA board chairperson and president have been elected from the ranks of provincial presidents and the appointment of directors has been the responsibility of the members’ council.

An insider who spoke to TimesLive under cloak of anonymity believes that the proposed system could see cricket being run by people who don’t have the best interests of the game at heart.

The insider expressed the opinion that, far from resolving ongoing issues with a lack of accountability within CSA, the recommendations will render the board a law unto themselves and effectively make them untouchable.

“For instance‚ the appointment of directors has always been the responsibility of the members’ council as per the existing CSA MOI. 

“If the board is not appointed by the members’ council‚ then who will that board be accountable to?” one insider commented.

“Another thing is the increase of the number of independent directors to seven. People who run cricket‚ who are the non-independent directors‚ must be in the majority.

“It can’t be that the independents outweigh the non-independents because the non-independents are actually the representatives of the shareholders‚ who are the unions and the clubs.

“Cricket‚ or any sport for that matter‚ should be run by cricket people in the main and complemented by independent directors.”

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CSA would not comment on the matter until discussions have been concluded.

“CSA will issue a statement as soon as all consultations regarding the MOI have been concluded,” CSA communications boss Thamie Mthembu said.