/ 5 May 2011

Cricket SA to face external audit

Cricket Sa To Face External Audit

Cricket South Africa says it has agreed to reinstate president Mtutuzeli Nyoka and will hold an independent investigation into the federation’s finances.

“The board has agreed in the interests of cricket, to abide the judgement handed down in the South Gauteng High Court on 15 April,” CSA said in a statement after the federation’s board of directors met in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.

“Dr Nyoka has been reinstated as president and chairman of the board of directors with immediate effect.

“The meeting unanimously agreed to abandon any appeal process in relation to the judgement.

“It was resolved to institute an external investigation including a forensic audit in relation to the mandate given to the Khan Review Committee.”

Representatives of the Department of Sport and Recreation, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and CSA’s Legal and Governance Committee were also in attendance.

“It was a good meeting, but I don’t think one can be dishonest to say there were no problems,” Nyoka said.

‘Sound leadership skills’
“There were ups and downs, but the advantage we have in cricket is that we have people with sound leadership skills.”

At a media conference after the meeting, Nyoka and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola, who had repeatedly clashed before Nyoka was given a vote of no confidence, exchanged handshakes and a hug to demonstrate a unity between the top brass of the federation.

“Gerald and I were children together and we also had ups and downs in our relationship,” Nyoka said.

“We always made up; we had no choice. Today we shook hands as brothers.”

Despite the reconciliatory tone of the meeting, Nyoka acknowledged that it would take time for the strained relationships within CSA to be mended.

“I don’t think anything as huge as this can be sorted out in an hour,” he said.

“It will take a process for us to completely heal the wounds.

“What we are committing to is to undertake the process of reconciliation and healing.

“As we know, the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.”

Nyoka said the audit panel would be selected by a lawyer in the CSA legal and governance committee.

The CSA boss was fired in February but the federation was told last month to reinstate him following a court judgement that found he had been unlawfully dismissed. CSA initially said it would file an appeal.

Nyoka threatened to blow the lid on corruption in cricket after his calls for an independent inquiry into bonuses paid to 40 CSA staff members last year, including Majola, were ignored.

He told the court that R68-million had gone missing from a CSA bank account, but the federation said it had held the funds for the Indian Premier League as running costs for the Twenty20 competition which South Africa hosted in 2009. — Sapa