Cricket SA has averted a potential disaster after the Members’ Council and the Interim Board finally reached an agreement on all outstanding issues related to amending the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI).
The Members’ Council and the Independent Board met on Sunday after the Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa had threatened to strip CSA of its status as the game's official cricketing body by "defunding" and "derecognising" the body.
Mthethwa's consideration to invoke Section 13 of the National Sports and Recreation Act was due to the reluctance of the Members' Council to agree to a majority independent board, as proposed by the Nicholson report due to the the Members’ Council believing that not all facts were presented by the Interim Board in terms of the vote that recently vetoed the adoption of the proposed Memorandum of Incorporation.
Acting President of the Members’ Council, Mr Rihan Richards said: "The Members’ Council is pleased to have been part of a thorough and fruitful consultative process today.
"Today is a historic day for cricket in South Africa and we look forward to being part of a new governance structure for cricket and playing our part in ensuring sound administration of the game we hold so dear. I am grateful to my Members’ Council colleagues and the Interim Board for ensuring that we avert a proposed ministerial intervention which would have caused cricket in our country irreparable harm."
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Speaking on behalf of the Interim Board, chair Dr Stavros Nicolaou said:" Today we reached an important milestone, and I am delighted that the Members’ Council and the Board reached agreement on a new governance structure.
"We have now successfully managed to fulfill the mandate given to us by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. We trust that this important agreement will give confidence to all cricket’s stakeholders specifically, players, staff, sponsors and all in the country who love the game of cricket. We owed it to our country to find a solution to cricket’s governance challenges.’
This agreement will now trigger an expedited process to adopt the MOI in terms of the Companies Act (s60) within 48 hours.
By reaching this agreement, cricket in South Africa has adopted a governance model which is best practice both in South Africa and internationally.
On Friday, Cricket SA staff, including Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, penned an emotial letter signed by all staff members for Mthethwa to reconsider invoking Section 13 of the National Sports and Recreation Act.
The Members' Council and the Interim Board will be sharing the amended MOI with all cricket's stakeholders including SASCOC.
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