It is an irony of rich proportions that Zimbabwe’s five-match tour of South Africa should begin on Friday against the backdrop of a financial investigation — and it doesn’t involve them.
Zimbabwe Cricket has endured far more than its fair share of questions regarding unaccounted-for funds and corporate governance irregularities in the past decade, but that was during an era of economic meltdown with collapsing businesses and a currency so devalued it became worthless.
It was an era in which the International Cricket Council’s own forensic auditors recognised as one in which most businesses had to do “anything they could to survive”.
Cricket South Africa’s (CSA’s) problems, on the other hand, would appear to stem from an excess rather than a shortage of cash. Having last month appointed an independent former judge, Pius Langa, to head an inquiry into the payment of bonuses totalling more than R4,5-million to its staff and also allegations of irregular payment of expenses exceeding R250 000 by chief executive Gerald Majola, the CSA board last week decided to dispense with Langa’s services (before he’d even started) and keep the whole thing “in-house”.
No explanation for the U-turn or abandonment of transparency was offered, but CSA received an unexpected vote of confidence from an extremely unlikely source this week. FirstRand director Paul Harris was head of the CSA remuneration committee when the bonus payments were made, but was subsequently voted off the board as an independent director.
“It should always have been an internal inquiry first of all,” Harris told the Mail & Guardian. “You can move to an external one later, but any business should have the chance to put its own house in order first.”
It was Harris’ refusal to sign off on the annual accounts that first raised the warning flag that all might not be well in the CSA cookie jar and, as such, though he has now been ejected from the game, he has not quite left the building. Not yet. Not while his reputation could be on the line.
“I have always said that this is not a personal issue. There is no witch- hunt and I have no agenda whatsoever other than truth and honesty. As long as all the important and relevant questions are asked, and answered, during the internal inquiry, then everyone can be satisfied,” Harris said.
Chief among those questions would appear to be whether Majola declared his personal interest in the contract to stage the Indian Premier League in South Africa. In other words, did he inform his board of directors that he stood to gain personally from South Africa staging the tournament. If he did not, then negotiations between him and the IPL administrators could be seen as fatally flawed.
On the issue of personal expenses, mostly travel and accommodation for Majola and his family, board members or the remuneration committee will need to have approved all such expenditure for it not to be construed as fraud. If fraud did indeed take place, then CSA directors could be held responsible and face criminal charges.
It’s a sad and unfortunate way for the season to start but, in time-honoured tradition, the players from both sides will put it all behind them (if, in fact, it was ever in front of them) when the Proteas face the Zimbabweans in a Pro20 International in Bloemfontein on Friday evening.
A South African team without either Kallis or Boucher for the first time in a decade represents a significant changing of the guard as does the possibility of a middle order containing David Miller and Colin Ingram. Exciting times ahead. But, without decades of collective experience and hundreds of international caps, the home side will be very unlikely to treat the Zimbabweans with the contempt and disdain they have shown in the past.
A more respectful approach from the home side, added to the undoubted improvements in attitude, fitness and technique by the tourists in the past 12 months, and we might just have a game on our hands. An upset, though, is highly unlikely. In fact, a clean sweep for South Africa of both Pro20s and all three ODIs is a more likely bet.
But speaking of upsets, the aftershocks from the one Harris is likely to create should he suspect anything resembling a cover-up at CSA in the coming weeks are likely to be felt across the spectra of business and sport and are unlikely to quieten down quickly, if at all, unless clean, unabridged accounts are produced.