Mali dismisses claims made in fax

Ray Mali, president of the South African board (UCB), has reacted to reports about an anonymous fax which excludes himself and Gerald Majola, the current chief executive, from a new board of directors for Cricket South Africa, the UCB's commercial arm.

Mali said that whoever was responsible for the fax was trying to derail the transformation of cricket in South Africa, and would not succeed. A report based on the anonymous fax, which was titled "Let's get South African cricket back where it belongs!", appeared in The Star, a South African newspaper.

"We have been aware of the undercurrents for some time, and it appears that any smokescreen will be used by these elements to achieve these ends," Mali said in a statement today. "As president of UCBSA, I am committed to the transformation policies as laid down by the general council and I will do all in my power to ensure that transformation progress is not impaired.

"The UCBSA administration since Majola became CEO has led to it being one of the top empowerment companies in South Africa," he continued. "UCBSA is also the only sports body to achieve ISO accreditation from the South African Bureau of Standards and on the field, we are one of the best in the world."

Top UCB officials immediately distanced themselves from the fax, with Rob Kurz, the current vice-president of the board who was named as the new chairperson in the fax, dismissing it as "hogwash" and as "an attempt to create mischief". Brandon Foot, who was named as the new chief executive, said that he first saw the letter on Monday (July 19), adding: "I immediately sent it through to Gerald [Majola], saying I had no knowledge of it and distancing myself from it." Foot is currently the Eastern Titans' director.

Mali also said in his statement that the financial irregularities allegedly commited by Ditheko Modise, the UCB's former general manager of finance, were very unfortunate. In March this year, it was revealed that millions of Rands had gone missing from the UCB's accounts. An audit uncovered massive fraud, allegedly commited by Modise. It was alleged that Modise misappropriated approximately R7.5 million (US$1.25 million) over two years, and there were also concerns raised about an amount of R1 million that were marked under "miscellaneous". Ian Smith, the former financial director, raised concerns about Modise well before the alleged fraud was uncovered, but his claims were not taken seriously.

Mali explained that all the proper remedial procedures had been put in place, and that the matter was now in the hands of the police and the courts. "We have a watershed season ahead of us," he added, "and we will do all in our power to ensure that out CEO and his staff have a clear operational path to make it a success."

The appearance of the mystery fax comes just days before the UCB's annual general meeting, on July 24.