JOHANNESBURG - The list of nominees to stand for positions on Cricket South Africa’s Board of Directors includes an official who’s been accused of assault, that left one woman with a broken arm.
The president of Border Cricket, Simphiwe Ndzundzu, is facing an investigation for assault in East London after breaking into the home of another Border official, Sinethemba Mjekula in July and beating him, his sister and Mjekula’s disabled mother.
Mjekula, who played 49 first class matches for Eastern Province, KwaZulu-Natal Inland and the Warriors and currently serves on Cricket SA’s reserve umpires panel, confirmed that a case had been opened at Zwelitsha police station. The attack is understood to have resulted from a dispute between Mjekula and Ndzundzu about a piece of land.
Mjejula claimed that Ndzundzu, wielding a knobkerrie, attacked him at his house and choked him, and then broke his sister’s arm with the weapon. He also assaulted Mjekula’s mother.
The investigation into the assault has been put on the back burner because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ndzundzu took over as Border Cricket’s president in August last year replacing Tando Gana and his name appearing on the list of nominees is sure to cause shockwaves, especially coming in women’s month, in which Cricket SA have been “celebrating the progress of women empowerment and gender equality both on and off the field, under the theme: ‘Enabling equality for women in the world of Cricket South Africa.’”
The theme received endorsement from Cricket SA’s new independent director Eugenia Kula-Ameya, who is the only nominee for the Lead Director position on the Board.
Ndzundzu is among six people nominated to serve on the Cricket SA’s Board as non-independent directors. The Board comprises seven non-independent directors with three of the current members - Beresford Williams, Donovan May, and Tebogo Siko running for the position of president of the organisation along with Ben Dladla, the president of the KwaZulu Natal Cricket Union. The positions will be voted for at CSA’s Annual General Meeting on September 5.
The aforementioned trio; Williams, Siko and May all served on CSA’s Board in the last year, when the organisation endured a catastrophic administrative meltdown. Williams is currently CSA’s acting president, taking up that position following the shock resignation of Chris Nenzani last week.
Among the other nominations for a non-independent director spot is Xolani Vonya, who was chairman of Easterns Cricket Union, but was suspended in May after being accused by the Easterns CU Board of misconduct.
In July, the ECU also suspended its CEO Mpho Seopa, a close confidant of Vonya and CSA’s suspended chief executive Thabang Moroe. Among the charges made by the ECU Board against Seopa are insubordination, overspending and not getting board approval for entertainment expenses.
In correspondence from Cricket SA’s company secretary Welsh Gwaza, Easterns have been told that Vonya’s suspension be set aside pending an inquiry by retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe. However the Easterns CU have disputed that calling for CSA to provide reasons why, but despite numerous letters to Gwaza and CSA’s former acting CEO, Jacques Faul, starting in May this year, no reply has been forthcoming, with Vonya’s name - despite his own Board suspending him and not endorsing his nomination - now appearing on the list of nominees to serve on CSA’s Board of Directors.
Cricket South Africa’s spokesman, Thamie Mthembu, was unavailable for comment.
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