South African Cricketers' Association say CSA lacks will to conclude Thabang Moroe case

The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) has accused Cricket South Africa's board of a "lack of will" to conclude suspended CEO Thabang Moroe's disciplinary proceedings which remain unresolved more than six months after Moroe was put on paid leave. Moroe continues to earn his full salary of R350,000 a month (approx. US $20,809) while acting CEO Dr Jacques Faul has been asked to continue in the role for as long as needed.

Faul was seconded from the Titans franchise to head up CSA for what the organisation's president Chris Nenzani said would be a maximum of six months. That period elapsed last Friday, with Moroe's case yet to be resolved. At the time of writing, CSA had not yet responded to requests for comment to clarify when Moroe's case will be concluded.

Late on Monday afternoon, CSA issued a statement noting the concerns of "our stakeholders" and called the situation "regrettable", while promising an update as soon as possible. "CSA would like to assure all cricket stakeholders of our uppermost intention to ensure absolute transparency on the related forensic outcomes once all of the related processes have been concluded," the statement read.

"It appears as if the Covid-19 pandemic is being used as a convenient excuse for the delay, in spite of the fact that CSA is operationally fully functional at the moment," Andrew Breetzke, SACA CEO, said. "There appears to be a distinct lack of will at board level to deal with this matter, despite the dire need for finality on this material issue for all stakeholders in cricket. It is interesting to note that there were no such delays in dealing with the numerous other CSA disciplinary matters."

Moroe was the seventh CSA employee to be suspended when the organisation imploded late last year, and the only one whose case has not progressed significantly. Of those, only one has returned to the organisation. Corrie van Zyl, who was working as interim director of cricket before he was suspended, was acquitted of wrongdoing in relation to delayed payments of player's commercial rights to SACA, and now works under director of cricket Graeme Smith. Chief operating officer Naasei Appiah and head of sales and sponsorship Clive Eksteen were both found guilty of misconduct and are understood to be appealing. However, financial manager Ziyanda Nkuta, procurement manager Lundi Maja, and administrator Dalene Nolan, have all been dismissed.

Moroe's case, which includes charges of credit card misuse, is dependent on the completion of a forensic audit, which is still in progress. CSA confirmed the audit is still to be finalised and the findings will be shared pending board approval. SACA believe CSA are also using the incomplete audit as a reason to prolong Moroe's case. "CSA will point to the forensic audit that has not yet been completed, despite the fact that the crises that have enveloped CSA over the past 18 months are evidence of a prima facie case against Moroe. It is hard to imagine another professional environment where such vacillation on a matter of such importance would be tolerated by a board of directors," Breetzke said.

SACA have made repeated calls for the CSA Board to step down, and have been at loggerheads with CSA over a variety of issues under the Moroe administration, who they took to court over a proposed restructure of the domestic game. The case was withdrawn in February after the plan was scrapped. Since then, relations between SACA and CSA have improved, and Breetzke made an appearance at a CSA press conference, outlining the organisation's plans to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. That marked the first time SACA and CSA representatives addressed the media together in the last three years. However, the two bodies continue to clash over the Moroe issue, over which there remains no deadline to resolve.