Five members of the disbanded Eastern Province Cricket Board (EPCB) are contesting claims of financial mismanagement that led to the board being placed under judicial management last month.
The United Cricket Board (UCB), the sport’s national governing body, disbanded the Eastern Province board after a report by Gerald Majola, the UCB’s chief executive, claimed financial mismanagement and poor governance had put next year’s World Cup games in Port Elizabeth at risk.
Five of the 13 board members resigned in May, blaming infighting and ”unbearable work circumstances”. One had already been banned from cricket for embezzlement and another had been suspended for not attending the board’s meetings. The remaining members — Fezikile Tshiwula, Malcolm Figg, Julius Majola, James Oosthuizen and vice-president Max Ntshona — have called for an independent inquiry. They have rejected Majola’s report as biased and incomplete.
The UCB had the Eastern Province board placed under judicial management after the national body won an urgent application in the Grahamstown High Court on June 14. Marc Leathern, who represented the UCB at the hearing, argued that the World Cup semifinal to be played in Port Elizabeth next year had been placed in jeopardy because the Eastern Province board could not meet its financial obligations. Leathern said the UCB had for two years tried to resolve the problems in the EPCB, but all its recommendations had been ”vexatiously disregarded”.
Kevin Helm, a former member of the board, and Cliffie Louw, an accountant, were appointed as the judicial managers. They must submit a report on the status of the province’s cricket to the court. Their term will depend on a ruling of the court, but is expected to last until after the World Cup, said Brandon Foot, chairperson of the UCB’s legal committee.
The board was elected last September. Five of the 13 were new members and most of the others were first elected in 2000. ”From the outset it became clear to us that the EPCB was beset with very serious governance problems, which were of historical nature,” said Julius Majola.
Malcolm Figg, who was treasurer of the EPCB before it was disbanded, said the UCB’s claim of financial mismanagement held no water because the province had been in debt long before the disbanded board took over.
”The financial problems that we’ve experienced stem from the decision to build the Duck Pond End pavilion. The interest on this debt alone amounts to R2,5-million that we have to pay back. The current board inherited the debt of more than 10 years. Now we are being blamed for it.”
Foot says the remaining members’ call for an independent investigation has already been met. ”UCB commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers at the beginning of the year to audit the Eastern Province board’s finances. During this audit irregularities were found.”
Rajan Moodaley, a board member and chairperson of the provincial scorers’ association, was banned from cricket for a year after the audit found he had embezzled money. Moodaley was found to have submitted fraudulent claims for acting as a scorer during the one-day international between Kenya and India last October and the Test match between South Africa and India last November.
After the board was dismantled last month, PriceWaterhouseCoopers extended the scope of the audit done at the beginning of the year. The results have not been released to the public.
Dale Howarth, chairperson of the provincial board’s business portfolio, resigned in May. Ronnie Pillay, the provincial president, and five other board members announced their resignations soon afterwards. That left vice-president Ntshona, professional portfolio chairperson Julius Majola, treasurer Figg, facilities chairperson Oosthuizen, and ordinary members Tshiwula and Davids on the board.
But Davids had been suspended from the board because he had not attended meetings regularly.
”That obviously leaves Eastern Province cricket in a bad spot. If only four of the original 13 members remain, it sends a clear message that all is not well at Eastern Province,” said Foot.
”The report was done at a time when the board had no leader because of the resignation of Pillay. The only leadership in Eastern Province cricket was provided by chief executive Dave Emslie. The vice-president has been indisposed for basically the whole year because of illness,” said Julius Majola.
Gerald Majola recommended in his report that a disciplinary hearing be held against Julius Majola for his ”public utterances [and] maverick attempts to involve senior national politicians in the affairs of local cricket”.
Flip Potgieter, a former EPCB president, also described Majola as a rabble-rouser. He claimed that Majola had ”hijacked” the transformation process for his own purposes. But Majola says he only expressed the feelings of the clubs and communities he represented. ”The clubs were unhappy about the way that their affairs were being handled.”
Oosthuizen said that Majola never dragged politics into the game. ”He is one of the forerunners in transformation. It is due to Julius that for the first time the province has a representative team and that they can send a black captain on to the field of play. His political support came from the community support base that he enjoys.”
Gerald Majola declined to comment.