Proteas to be stripped of national team status by Sports Minister

Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa has moved to strip the Proteas cricket sides of their national team status.

Mthethwa has grown impatient with Cricket South Africa who have dragged the process of restructuring out to a ludicrous degree with in-fighting and have failed to establish a new permanent board.

Proteas to lose status as national team

The Sports Minister is reportedly set to invoke section 13 of the Sports Act which would strip CSA of its government funding and recognition as a national sports federation.

“I have decided to invoke my powers under the Act and I hereby notify you that I have done so in accordance with s13 (5)(i)-(iii) by defunding CSA and derecognising CSA and I will cause this to be published in the Government Gazette in due course at the earliest opportunity,” Mthethwa wrote in a letter explaining his choice.

CSA are not relient on government funding to stay operational but will effectively lose their power to decide who represents South Africa in the sport as they will no longer be recognised by government.

In his letter sent to Interim Board chair, Dr Stavros Nicolaou and CSA’s acting president Rihan Richards, Mthethwa informed the body that he wold notify the International Cricket Council of his decision.

The sticking point in negotiations continues to be CSA’s reluctance to accept Memorandum of Incorporation that will ensure a new board of directors made up of a majority of independent, with a independent chair.

Time is up

Mthethwa further detailed his numerous attempts to engage with CSA to resolve the issues which have met only with frustration.

It has been pointed out that a majority independent board is not only standard in business circles but is also standard in the field of sports administration. CSA were advised to make these structural changes nearly a decade ago in the wake of the scandal that ended Gerald Majola’s time as CEO. The Nicholson report made it clear that CSA risks reoccurrences of maladministration so long as they continue with the current structure.

Since the suspension of CEO Thabang Moroe in late 2019, CSA have lurched from crisis to crisis, culminating in the dissolution of the board and the appointment of an interim board earlier this year.

CSA over a barrell

The interim board, who support the recommendations, remain hopeful of a resolution before Mthethwa’s decision is pushed through.

“I see a number of affiliates have come out in support, so I’m really hopeful that the Members Council can still pass a special resolution agreeing to the reforms,” Nicolau said on Thursday.

“Maybe reality has started to hit home, because the alternative to not approving the MoI is too horrible to contemplate. We have a narrow window of opportunity at the moment to avert the crisis.”