Haroon Lorgat, Omphile Ramela and Andre Odendaal will be part of a nine-member interim Cricket South Africa board, with Judge Zak Yacoob as the chairman. The names of the members and the functions of the interim board were announced by sports minister Nathi Mthethwa on Friday.
The nine members are: Yacoob, Ramela, Stavros Nicolaou, Lorgat, Odendaal, Judith February, Andile Dawn Mbatha, Xolani Vonya, and Nkeko Caroline Mampuru.
The sports minister said the nine members had been nominated by him, the Members’ Council, and the South African Cricketers’ Association. “The interim board will keep the game running and expeditiously deal with governance and structures,” he said.
“It dawned on me that no matter how long we nudge cricket, no matter how long we delay the inevitable, we will be faced with it,” Mthethwa said. “There was no way that Cricket South Africa was in a position to self-correct. When I decided to intervene, I decided as a matter of courtesy to inform the ICC. I also thought I would give Cricket South Africa another opportunity to make representations to me as to why I should not intervene. In the interim, I heard that the board has resigned as Cricket South Africa, particularly the Members’ Council, managed to present me with constructive proposals. I applied my mind and agreed to engage with them on a collaborative process.”
Among the nine members, Lorgat is probably the most known in the cricket world, having headed the ICC and CSA in the past. The others directly connected with cricket are Ramela, the former left-hand batsman who is the president of the South African Cricketers’ Association. Ramela will have to step down from his role as SACA president to avoid a conflict of interest.
Odendaal is a former CEO of Western Province cricket, while Vonya is a former president of Easterns Cricket.
Among the other members, Yacoob is a former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. February is a lawyer and governance specialist, Mbatha is a chief financial officer of the Independent Electoral Commission, and Mampuru is the deputy head of the special investigation unit, a forensic investigation and litigation agency. Nicolaou is a senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry.
“This team is going to look into everything, including the decisions that have been taken that resulted in the board resigning,” Mthethwa said.
He also indicated that CSA’s AGM, scheduled for December 5, will need to be moved again (after it was initially pencilled in for September 5) while the interim board completes its work.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo