How on God’s green Earth did the Cricket South Africa board sit by and watch their chief executive flout the Companies Act when their fiduciary duty was to keep the checks and balances in place? For the how? For the why?
The last two questions are colloquial and probably have no place in this body of work, but for the lay person they are necessary to unravel Cricket SA’s board-level mess, which has left the organisation teetering on the brink. Let’s go back to base camp to answer them.
On Monday morning, CSA member’s council representative John Mogodi fronted up to the media and read out the summary of the report without the necessary follow-up question and answer. With CSA and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee having to face the parliamentary sports portfolio committee on Tuesday, CSA needed to be seen to be acting. That we were presented with the summary is good and well, but the full Monty that’s needed by all and sundry is the full report with unadulterated access.
The summary of the report is, well, explosive to say the least. It lifts the lid on Thabang Moroe’s inability to adhere to the Companies Act, a basic guiding principle for any corporate executive. He was given the plum job without the requisite experience and the company has paid the price. This is where we move to the board and why they need to be sent packing.
They moved mountains and made him overshoot his academic and executive capabilities by moving him from the board and into the office.
In among Moroe’s plentiful missteps, the board didn’t exercise its oversight duty. They didn’t question and not at any stage did they demand answers. Were they there just to earn their board fees and nod in appreciation at every decision that was made? With the number of Companies Act breaches committed by Moroe, they were clearly just making up the numbers.
The King IV principle six on corporate states: “The governing body should serve as the focal point and custodian of corporate governance in the organisation.” There are also four critical points attached to this: “Steers and sets strategic direction, approves policy and planning that gives effect to strategic direction, oversees and monitors, and finally and crucially, ensures accountability.”
None of these was done by the various board members between his appointment as acting CEO in 2017, to his permanent appointment a year later, and his much-publicised suspension in December 2019.
A CEO, while in charge of many organisational aspects, reports and accounts to the board that appointed him. The culpability of the board in this summary is damning and it explains why the full report is behind lock and key at the Bowman Gilfillan offices. How this board somehow found a way to transfer all responsibility to Moroe while they were the ones who gave him full rein, is nothing short of amazing.
The select individuals who were on the board during this time (and are still on) have two options: come clean and resign or keep quiet and resign.
The former is the most necessary step, but the fact that sports minister Nathi Mthethwa had to wield the big stick for the board to respond speaks volumes about a resolute and misplaced diffidence that could send the game back to the Stone Age.
It’s clear there was malfeasance on the board’s side with their Companies Act ineptitude, and Moroe, with what the report has laid out as a lack of understanding with regards to the Companies Act, was made the scapegoat.
Either way, CSA needs a clean slate that’s in line with Judge Chris Nicholson’s recommendations, and none of these clowns who ran the circus during the Moroe era should be part of the new dispensation.
