Majola to be cleared of all charges

Gerald Majola, chief executive of Cricket South Africa (CSA), is expected to be "cleared of all charges" of financial impropriety at the associations board meeting on Friday, a CSA insider told ESPNcricinfo. The body's internal commission of inquiry, headed by CSA vice president AK Khan, that was looking into the bonus payments Majola received after last year's Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, found "no evidence of fraud against Majola," according to the source.

However, the methods of awarding bonuses to CSA staff members could face an overhaul after the committee presents its findings. "The questions of procedure and governance are totally different matters and what will probably happen now is that the board will put in rules in place over how bonuses should be paid out, so that everything is accounted for."

Majola and 39 other staff members were paid bonuses after the successful second season of the T20 tournament, but they did not go through CSA's remunerations committee. This was picked up by CSA's auditors Deloitte who reported irregularities in the body's financial statements in August. CSA insiders said that nothing suspicious could be read into the payments because they were made according to a precedent for paying bonuses after major tournaments that was set at the 2003 World Cup.

Also under the spotlight will be a report leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper, allegedly written by CSA president Doctor Mtutuzeli Nyoka, which accused Majola of other wrongdoings. The report alleged that besides questioning the bonus payments, Nyoka also claimed that Majola had used R318 238 (approximately US$ 45,462) in travel costs for his wife. The source expects Majola to be cleared on that charge as well. "I've heard as part his [Majola's] contract that he is given a travel allowance for his family and I've also heard that the numbers involves in the costs have been greatly inflated."

The leaked report also brought to the fore what the insider claims is a "very strained relationship" between Majola and Nyoka. The two have been at loggerheads since Nyoka was Chairman of the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) at the turn of the millennium. In 2002, Nyoka resigned from his post at the GCB after unsuccessfully challenging then United Cricket Board (UCB) president Percy Sonn for his position.

Nyoka was also one of the loudest critics of the UCB's pace of transformation and questioned the body's commitment to developing players of colour. At the time, Nyoka was quoted as saying, "Gerald Majola must understand that his appointment was an affirmative action and others should be getting the same opportunities as him if transformation is going to work."

Nyoka returned to cricket in 2005, as chair of a 22-man steering committee that was set up to run the GCB. His role to assist in mediating between warring clubs who were up in arms over the lack of transformation in the province He was elected President of CSA in October 2008. The two have not had any public spats since then.

CSA initially appointed an external commission, under Judge Pius Langa, to investigate the bonus payments but u-turned on their decision a few weeks later, opting to conduct the probe internally. At the time, ESPNcricinfo was told that the decision to make use of the Langa commission was made "unilaterally by a member of the CSA executive, who did not consult with the board". When the board met on the August 21, they voted to shift the probe internally because they had "not exhausted all their own procedures."

The move resulted in CSA being criticised for a lack of transparency but the source said they took it upon themselves to ensure independence. "What will come out is that even though the commission was internal, CSA got an external person to run it. I can't say who that person is but those details will emerge on Friday."

The board meeting will take place at 10am South African time at the OR Tambo International Airport.