CSA 'used me' in Arendse's omission

The chairman of Cricket SA's independent nominations committee says he has been "manipulated and used". He was commenting on the outcome of a process meant to herald a brave new era for the troubled sports body.

Shawn Christiansen said yesterday: "What needs to be done needs to be done outside CSA and not within it; you can't change that organisation from within."

CSA appointed Christiansen, a senior commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, to head a committee that would identify candidates to serve as independent directors on its new board. The board will be elected on October 27.

It will comprise five independent directors, five provincial presidents, and the CSA CEO.

Its recommendation for the chairmanship was Norman Arendse, who resigned as CSA president in 2008. But Arendse's name was not among those of the five independent directors CSA named on Tuesday.

"His passion and experience in many different codes, coupled with his legal, analytical and communications skills . make him the ideal candidate for leadership of this fledgling board," the committee's report to CSA reads.

Arendse's omission made Christiansen feel that he was "up against a force that is probably hiding in dark alleys . I feel used and manipulated in this process".

Reports that CSA had amended its articles of incorporation - essentially its constitution - on Sunday to preclude Arendse on the basis that he is a life member of the WP Cricket Association were denied yesterday.

"Right up front, the principle was established that the independent component of the board must be absolutely independent," said CSA acting president Willie Basson.

"They [incumbent board members] should have had no association with cricket for the past three years.

"That started long before the nominations for independent board members started coming in.

"That was introduced a long time ago and it was repeatedly conveyed to the nominations committee. It was reconfirmed on three occasions, and it's all there in the minutes. It is absolute nonsense that this was introduced on Sunday."

Arendse's resignation as CSA president followed his repeated run-ins with CEO Gerald Majola, which led to a vote of no confidence in Arendse by the provincial presidents. Several of the latter remain powerful figures in cricket.

Basson said the board's experience of Arendse was not a factor in his exclusion.

"It has nothing to do with that, it wasn't even discussed on Sunday," Basson said. "Mr Arendse [is] in the same camp as those who have been excluded under the definition of independent directors."