More headaches for Cricket South Africa’s interim board

Outside its salvage job mandate‚ Cricket South Africa’s interim board is also faced with the obstacle of having two of its board members, Omphile Ramela and Xolani Vonya, recused from their duties.

Ramela‚ a former South African Cricketer’s Association president who was vocal with regards to the renewal process CSA needed to undergo‚ was deemed to be obstructive by interim board chairman Justice Zak Yacoob and difficult to work with.

Yacoob also said the issue of replacing Ramela isn’t a priority as the board has to complete its work.

“He has been obstructive when it comes to board matters. He has been defending the indefensible. He refuses to accept the majority and seems to make the distinction between what is right and majority decisions‚” Yacoob said.

“When he feels that majority decisions are wrong‚ he wants to continue to fight about them for hours. He does not have the discipline to accept majority decisions. He has been obstructive when it comes to every difficult decision we have made. It has been virtually impossible to deal with him.”

Yacoob said Vonya‚ who stepped down from the Easterns Cricket Union presidency in late October‚ from where he went and joined the interim board‚ wasn’t cleared by retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe’s report that found the attempt to remove him as president as irregular.

Vonya was the only former Member’s Council member serving on the interim board.

“I read the Ngoepe report five times‚ it was a technical one and it didn’t clear him at all. It just said the process they went about was wrong and they didn’t have the proper allegations against him. It was a case of a wide net being thrown at him with the intention of being caught somewhere. The allegations against him weren’t specific enough‚” Yacoob said.

“He has been recused from the board on the basis that there have been allegations of dishonesty levelled against him which have not been disproved. An inquiry at the Easterns Cricket Union was about to start against him. They had everything ready and instead of facing the inquiry‚ he resigned to avoid facing the enquiry‚ according to them. Mr Vonya knows that nowhere did the judge say he was completely right or that there was nothing against him.”

In the event of the duo needing to be replaced should they not come back‚ Yacoob said they’re not in a rush. But the retired judge said there will be consultation in the event of a replacement.

“We keep the minister informed‚ along with the member’s council in relation to everything. We have no power to increase the size of our board and so does the minister because he has taken the co-operative route and not the compulsive one‚” Yacoob said.

“Who is appointed on the board does depend on the minister or ministry and if they ask us with regards to who we want‚ we’ll have a discussion and make some recommendations. Until we are asked‚ we’ll have to carry on with what we’ve got and do the best we can.”