The International Cricket Council (ICC) are closely following developments at Cricket South Africa (CSA) with a keen interest and studying facts available to them.
TimesLIVE is reliably informed that the ICC board‚ the world governing body for cricket‚ is strongly pushing for the CSA matter to be a matter of discussion at its next meeting.
The ICC has not officially commented on CSA and the governance and administrative control failures that have beset the organisation over the past 18 months‚ but “are looking into all facts”‚ TimesLIVE has established.
The ICC’s next board meeting is yet to be scheduled‚ said high-ranking officials at ICC on Thursday‚ but the global body is “deeply concerned” with what is happening at CSA.
CSA runs the risk of being banned from international cricket by the ICC after the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) last week announced it has “intervened” in the CSA matter.
Sascoc asked the CSA board and executive management to step aside and cease daily operations while a task team takes charge and investigate the problems that have best the organisation.
CSA rejected the move from Sascoc and asked for a dialog with the body.
Sascoc denied that their intervention was tantamount to putting CSA under administration. The body said it is only trying to help the cricket body self-correct and get back on the straight and narrow.
Sascoc is not a government body. However‚ it remains unclear as to whether the ICC will view their “intervention” as political or government interference.
The ICC rules forbid government interference.
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) learnt the hard way after they were suspended by the ICC in July last year over a reported failure to keep the sport free from government interference. The ban was lifted a few months later.
The ban came after the Zimbabwe's Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) suspended Zimbabwe Cricket and put in an interim leadership‚ putting the national cricket board on a collision course with the ICC.
Zimbabwe’s SRC acted after alleging corruption in the administration‚ but the ICC viewed it as government interference.
The SRC of Zimbabwe and Sascoc have similarities in that they both report to their respective ministries of sport.
The ICC imposed a similar ban on the Nepal cricket body in 2016 for a breach of its regulations regarding government interference.
CSA’s image has taken a nosedive since December when board members resigned en masse and sponsors threatening to walk away with CEO Thabang Moroe suspended over allegations of misconduct.
A forensic audit and investigation was conducted and a report has been handed over to CSA. But the organisation has kept the near-500 page report under lock and key.
The forensic report has divided the CSA board and Members’ Council‚ the highest decision-making body comprised of the 14 president of the provincial cricket unions‚ in the middle with some calling for it to be released while others went with a legal advice to only make its summary available.
CSA and Sascoc continue to bicker.
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