Good governance is about not hesitating to deal with conflict, Judge Mervyn King told a committee of inquiry into Cricket South Africa (CSA) in Pretoria on Friday.
“If you have any conflict … put it on the table,” he said.
King, a former supreme court judge, chaired the King Committee on Corporate Governance which issued its third and final report in 2009.
In the course of his career, he advised the United Cricket Board of South Africa — which later became CSA — on corporate governance issues. He also used to arbitrate disputes between provinces.
During 2008 and 2009 he took part in the formation of the first legal and governance review committee within CSA.
Good governance
The committee existed to ensure CSA complied with policies and procedures to do with all aspects of good governance.
He said on Friday he was asked in May 2009 to address a CSA board meeting on governance.
“I was requested by Mr [Gerald] Majola to attend a board meeting of Cricket SA … which was held at OR Tambo International Airport. Board members had flown in from all over the country.”
He said he spoke about corporate governance and conflict of duties at the meeting.
King told the committee: “Good governance is about quality, not about quantity. In my experience … if you have any conflict, and I emphasised the word any … you should put it on the table.”
He said he knew some of the people sitting at that board meeting were very experienced in board matters and that his presentation was not “novel” information to some board members.
Policy review
The Nicholson inquiry was announced last year by Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula after auditing firm KPMG recommended that CSA’s remuneration and travel allowance policy be reviewed.
A KPMG audit found that bonus payments had been kept secret from the federation’s remuneration committee, and that CSA chief executive Gerald Majola had breached the Companies Act on at least four occasions.
The committee said it hoped to submit its final report to Mbalula by the end of February.
The national cricket body has struggled to find sponsors to back the sport during the lengthy bonus saga. The domestic one-day and T20 competitions and the national T20 team remain sponsorless.
Mbalula said at a business breakfast in Johannesburg on Tuesday that he would not tolerate corruption or bad corporate governance in South African sport. — Sapa