The South African national government suspends Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Thursday(10/09/2020) and has taken control of the sport in the nation.
SASCOC Letters to Cricket South Africa(CSA)
Letters from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to CSA demand that “the CSA board and those senior executives who serve ex-officio on the board (the company secretary, the acting CEO, the CFO, and the COO) are directed to step aside from the administration of CSA 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”.
“This has manifestly 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,” the letter said.
“There can be no doubt that this has caused cricket to lose the trust and confidence of 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 took a dim view of CSA’s dallying about a forensic report into the organisation’s state of affairs: “SASCOC has attempted to address these issues in 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 statement on SASCOC resolutions 👇 pic.twitter.com/Lo5DtBxrJq
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) September 10, 2020
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.”
What is SASCOC, the government entity that has suspended CSA?
SASCOC (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for South Africa and the responsible body for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games. It is also responsible for high-performance sport in the country and coordinates the relationship with various international sports federations. Thus, it is a sporting ombudsman that was formed following a process beginning with a task force established by the Minister of Sport. Thus, it is a government super body.
Will current South Africa players’ IPL participation be in doubt?
There is no word yet about whether this move will affect South African players’ participation in IPL. As of now, they are free to compete. It is only their international matches that might be thrown in doubt.
Perhaps the biggest fall-out from this will be that South Africa could well be prevented from playing the game at the international level. ICC rules prevent direct government interference in the running of any nation’s cricket board.
CSA Gets in the List for the second time
In fact, South Africa will also become the first country to be banned from international cricket for the second time. The country had been banned from playing any international sport between 1970 and 1990 due to the policy of Apartheid practiced by the Afrikaner-led government.
Also read: Two South African Cricket Players Test Positive for COVID-19, Confirms Cricket South Africa
