Towards the end of Tony Scott’s riveting 1998 classic thriller Enemy of the State, Gene Hackman tells Will Smith: “It’s either you’re incredibly smart, or incredibly stupid.”
If you’ve finished the movie, Smith proved he was incredibly smart
Bringing it back to Cricket South Africa, the organisation’s hopelessly inept acting president, Beresford Williams, is incredibly stupid. Here’s why.
There’s a letter signed by Williams and delivered to the then somnolent, but now clearly awakened and enraged, sports minister Nathi Mthethwa on October 9.
The letter’s tone was initially courteous, but the last two points carried the arrogance of a tail-end rabbit opening on a green top:
- The members of the CSA Board have now had an opportunity to consider your request that they “step down”.
Each one of them is of the view that he/she will not “step down” unless duly removed from office in accordance with the applicable provisions of CSA’s memorandum of incorporation. They are of the view (and have been advised) that you do not have power, in terms of the National Sport and Recreation Act 110 of 1998, to require members of the CSA Board to “step down”. Furthermore, we are of the view that such a requirement probably constitutes government interference in CSA’s governance, regulation and/or administration, as contemplated in the memorandum of association of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and, as such, interferes with CSA’s contractual obligations to the ICC and jeopardises CSA’s continued membership of the ICC.
- In the circumstances, we are constrained to notify you respectfully that the members of the CSA Board will not comply with your request that they “step down”. Nevertheless, we emphasise that we remain committed to addressing and remedying the problems that have been identified in the management and operations of CSA and would be happy to cooperate with you and SASCOC in a constructive and lawful manner to that end.
Effectively, Williams decided to play God with the organisation and rudely told Mthethwa to stay in his lane.
CSA’s collapse must still be blamed on the collective, but Williams’s leadership has been so absent, it’s allowed a chancer like Marius Schoeman to look like a knight in shining armour.
Does he understand the peril he’s put the game in, not just at ministerial level, but with the International Cricket Council, whom Mthethwa contacted in visceral response on October 14?
If there’s ever been a middle finger from a board president to the minister, this was it.
The sad part about this is that should the brown stuff hit the fan, should the minister decide put his foot down and shut down the game, is Williams can go back to his City of Cape Town day job and strut around with the unearned title of president with no care in the world. CSA, on the other hand, could be six feet under.
The damage he’s wrought and the lack of leadership he’s displayed are nothing short of tremendous and reckless.
The Nicholson report recommendations sought to protect the game from preposterous piss artists like Williams who, at best, are chasing titles and self-serving.
Those recommendations, when finally applied, must ensure we can never have the likes of Williams anywhere close to running the game, not after the mess he’s watched over in his capacity as a board member, vice-president and acting president.
CSA’s collapse must still be blamed on the collective, but Williams’s leadership has been so absent, it’s allowed a chancer like Marius Schoeman to look like a knight in shining armour.
Before Schoeman came across as this paragon of virtue in the recent parliamentary sports portfolio committee meetings, where he offered his resignation if the report wasn’t delivered, it’s worth remembering that he sat on the audit and risk committee that had seen the report.
Back to Williams, who was mercifully shoved aside at last week’s parliamentary meeting while his continuing delusion allows him to think he’s fit to lead CSA despite being implicated twice in the forensic report, the blob of lard needs to walk the plank or be forcefully thrown overboard by this time next week when their deadline expires.
That letter, whether he penned it or not, was incredibly stupid. If he read it and just signed, he still remains incredibly stupid.
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