Johannesburg – A cynic might be inclined to believe that Cricket South Africa (CSA) has conveniently taken advantage of the illness to this country’s most famous statesman.
It may be the off-season, but this week would have seen cricket back in the spotlight with CSA holding its annual national awards – a celebration of the great and the good in the sport in the last 12 months.
Unfortunately for CSA, those celebrations would also have put the organisation in the spotlight over the protracted process it’s undergoing to find a chief executive.
The administrative tumult that has clouded CSA in the last four years has only recently started subsiding, though given the depth of the anger and distrust towards the sport’s administrators, a sizable level of cynicism remains.
That’s perfectly understandable, which is why the decision to postpone the awards was greeted with incredulity in some quarters.
While Nelson Mandela’s frailty is cause for concern across the globe, there hasn’t been a halt put on functions in other sectors. The US president didn’t turn his plane around, Wimbledon will continue, as does Super Rugby.
CSA’s decision to halt their celebrations, while an admirable call, is also over the top.
Mandela wouldn’t want the world to stop on account of him and, given the way he used sport as a component to help unify the country, may not appreciate a halt being put on celebrations for Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Co.
CSA would have loved the coming week to be all about the national team’s historic feats these past 12 months.
The Test series triumphs in England and Australia and the individual performances and achievements of Amla, Steyn and Philander were historic.
But CSA’s boardroom has continued to hog the limelight because of the way the organisation’s gone about trying to find a chief executive. Accusations persist that they are lackeys of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Much of that stems from the fact that former International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive and former United Cricket Board of SA treasurer Haroon Lorgat hasn’t been given the job at CSA.
It’s been easy to place Lorgat as the best man for the job because he “stood up to the BCCI” while many casually forget the distrust that ensued when he was national selection convener. He is also a former CSA administrator – and aren’t there enough of those on the current (enlarged) board?
Many of those current board members are tainted by their association with disgraced former chief executive Gerald Majola but continue to demand the trust of the South African public because they are trying to forge a new era for CSA.
If that is the case, then perhaps the public would welcome a new chief executive, one who is in no way tainted with links to CSA or Majola.
The trouble for CSA is that they have stumbled about in their search for Majola’s replacement, putting out press releases promising an appointment; first “by the end of April” – as per a release in March – and then “by the beginning of July”, as per a release in May.
A board sub-committee chaired by Dawn Makhobo, one of CSA’s independent directors, is tasked with finding a new chief executive and that process would have come under the spotlight this week again while the attention was focused on the awards ceremony.
CSA’s Board were due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the shortlist of candidates for the chief executive post but, like the awards, that meeting has also been postponed.
The board is next scheduled to meet on July 19 when they are due to receive a shortlist of candidates.
Given the BCCI’s proximity to all this – and their apparently deep dislike of Lorgat – it is also interesting to monitor matters taking place within India’s cricket administration for they may impact on what takes place with CSA.
Narayanaswami Srinivasan, who stepped aside as BCCI president pending an inquiry into the Indian Premier League match-fixing scandal which rocked that competition this year, is seen as being behind the bullying of CSA over Lorgat.
The inquiry in India has yet to start, but it’s certainly convenient for CSA – especially for those still keen on seeing Lorgat appointed as chief executive – to wait a bit longer and assess the administrative landscape in Indian cricket before deciding on that post.
A likely date for the awards is some time in August, after the national team returns from its tour of Sri Lanka.
By then, hopefully, CSA will have a new chief executive.