South Africa's Olympics body takes control of cricket in South Africa, asks CSA officials to step down

South Africa’s Olympics body South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has taken over the control of cricket in South Africa. As per a report in Cricbuzz, SASCOC sent letters to Cricket South Africa (CSA), asking the key members of the board - the company secretary, the acting CEO, the CFO and the COO - to step down from their posts. A task team is assigned to investigate the matters of maladministration and malpractices in the board that have taken place since December 2019. CSA’ former CEO Thabang Monroe was fired last month following the findings of a forensic report that revealed “acts of serious misconduct”. Acting CEO Jacques Faul and president Chris Nenzani resigned last month with Kugandrie Govender replacing Faul. The new development is another setback to the board which is in the middle of administrative chaos and facing allegations of corruption and racial discrimination. “This has manifestly caused great concern and consternation amongst your own members, former and current members of the national team of the Proteas, stakeholders, sponsors, and members of the cricket-loving public….There can be no doubt that this has caused cricket to lose the trust and confidence of members of the public, stakeholders, sponsors and the players represented by SACA [the South African Cricketers’ Association]. All this has brought cricket into disrepute,” the letter read. [caption id=“attachment_8775811” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Representational photo. Image credit: Twitter/@NewBalance_SA[/caption] In the letter, SASCOC also said CSA’s delay in submitting the forensic report of the board’s state of affairs, led to cancellation of its key meeting with the national cricket board. Country’s elite players have also criticised CSA for postponing its AGM scheduled for 5 September. The development means cricket in South Africa is now under the control of the South African government. It will be interesting to see how ICC reacts to the change of guard in South African cricket, given they suspended Zimbabwe Cricket in 2019 after the cricket board failed to organise elections and interference of government in its functioning. With inputs from PTI