South African Olympic body takes control of cricket in South Africa

South Africa’s Olympic body has taken control of cricket in the country, a move that could fall foul of the ICC’s rules on government interference and may lead to the national team being kicked out at the international level. 

Letters from the South African Sports Confederation (SASCOC) and Olympic Committee to CSA demand that the CSA board and the senior executives who serve the ex-officio on the board (CEO,CFO, COO) to step aside from the CSA administration on full pay, pending the outcome of a month-long investigation by a task team into what SASCOC termed many instances of maladministration and malpractice that have occurred since at least December 2019.

The letter also said that these malpractices “have caused great concern and consternation amongst your own members, former and current members of the national team of the Proteas, stakeholders, sponsors, and members of the cricket-loving public. 

There can be no doubt that this has caused cricket to lose the trust and confidence of the members of the public, stakeholders, sponsors, and the players represented by SACA (the South African Cricketers’ Association). All this has brought cricket into disrepute.”

SASCOC also reviewed a forensic report into the organization’s state of affairs. “SASCOC has attempted to address these issues into two meetings with the CSA board, one was exploratory and the other failed to take place mainly because of the fact that CSA failed to make the forensic report available to the SASCOC board despite promises and undertakings by CSA to do so. 

CSA is in receipt of our letter, which records that the board’s decision to make the said report available only on a limited basis to the president and board members of SASCOC, is wholly unreasonable and irrational given the apparent nature and scope of the report.”

SASCOC is supposed to manage the relationship between the state and sports federations and as such has the authority to put CSA under administration. The decision was finalized on the basis of a unanimous vote taken in a meeting. Neither the CSA nor the ICC immediately responded to requests for comment. 

featured image credits- skysports.com