End of an era as Cricket SA and Standard Bank go their separate ways

29 April 2020 - 18:12 By Tiisetso Malepa
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Cricket South Africa chief commercial officer Kugandrie Govender has thanks Standard Bank for its support over the years.
Cricket South Africa chief commercial officer Kugandrie Govender has thanks Standard Bank for its support over the years.
Image: Sydney Mahlangu/ BackpagePix

The corporate governance howlers of late last year at Cricket South Africa (CSA) appear to have been so bad the national governing body has failed to convince its long-time headline sponsor Standard Bank to remain on board.

The end of the relationship does not come as a surprise as the title sponsors of the men's national Test and ODI side announced in December last year at the height of upheaval within the sport that they would not renew their deal with the organisation when it expires at the end of April.

“Standard Bank has been a remarkable commercial partner to Cricket South Africa. Their presence in South African cricket will be sorely missed‚” said CSA chief commercial officer Kugandrie Govender in a statement on Wednesday.

Govender said the bank played a massive role in CSA's development projects over the years.

“We cannot stress enough the impact of the Standard Bank investment into developmental cricket and for this‚ we will forever be grateful to them as should every fan that raises our flag with pride‚” added Govender.

CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul also thanked Standard Bank for its support.

“We are extremely grateful to Standard Bank for everything they have done over the past four years and also in their previous sponsorship period which dates back to 1998 and lasted for a decade‚” said Faul.

CSA were jolted in December after the banking giant announced it would not renew its R100m-a-year sponsorship.

In announcing the intention to terminate in December last year‚ the bank’s group marketing and communications chief Thulani Sibeko said in a statement that CSA’s administrative governance issues “damaged Standard Bank’s reputation.”

“We wish the national cricket team well in the years ahead. The Test‚ ODI and T20 teams have made South Africans immensely proud over the years and we are grateful to have been a part of their journey‚” said Sibeko at the time.

Suspended chief executive Thabang Moroe and his leadership came in for heavy criticism after a litany of reputation-damaging blunders that resulted in the resignations of a number of independent board members.

But the suicidal attempt by CSA a few weeks prior when Moroe revoked and later reinstated accreditations of five journalists seemed to have rubbed the bank the wrong way.


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