SASCOC to appoint task team to investigate CSA imminently

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) hopes to appoint a task team to investigate Cricket South Africa's administrative and financial affairs in the next two days but is preparing to do so without input from CSA's Members Council.

The SASCOC had hoped to meet with the Members Council - the body, comprising the 14 provincial presidents, is the highest decision-making authority in CSA - at 10am on Friday morning. But CSA's overnight statement disagreeing with the SASCOC's instruction for the board and the executive to step aside meant the meeting did not happen, leaving the SASCOC "very, very, disappointed" in CSA's stance.

"It is unfortunate they didn't meet with us," Ravi Govender, the SASCOC's acting CEO, told ESPNcricinfo. "It was disappointing that they issued a statement without us having the opportunity to address to them. The SASCOC board takes a dim view that CSA has taken a position without engaging us."

Goodness me! What's happening to cricket in SA is catastrophic.

I feel so sorry for the many amazing people that work in that organisation and to all the players that are suffering at the hands of this disaster!

Sport unites SA! This horror show is finishing cricket!

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) September 11, 2020

The SASCOC is a legislatively created umbrella body under which all South Africa's sporting federations operate and regards its main business to be to "promote and develop high-performance sport", as it states in its constitution. Currently, it is operating with an acting CEO and acting president as a result of delayed elections.

The SASCOC and CSA have had one meeting prior to the SASCOC's letter to CSA's Members Council last night and had a second meeting planned, which failed to take place because CSA did not make the forensic report that was used to dismiss former CEO Thabang Moroe available to the SASCOC. The report has not been made public, neither is it freely available to be seen by the Members Council, who have had to sign non-disclosure agreements to view the documents. The SASCOC has since been asked to do the same, which Govender called "ludicrous". The SASCOC believes the nature and scope of the report mean it must be made available in order for it to fully understand the governance issues at CSA.

Asked if the SASCOC was concerned that its intervention could be viewed as interference that breaches the ICC's Code of Conduct and thereby puts CSA at risk of sanction, Govender was confident that it does not. "We have not put CSA under administration," he said. "We are going to keep the ICC informed and we are going to share information with them. We are not calling for the suspension of CSA. We are looking into the governance issues relating to the problems."

That means as of Friday morning, CSA is continuing to run "business as usual" according to a spokesperson but that may change over the weekend. However, CSA has had the opportunity to influence who controls cricket over the course of the SASCOC inquiry but now faces the risk of being run by people outside of the game. "That is why we wrote to the Members Council - because we believed it was proper and appropriate to engage with them," Govender said.