A decision on Cricket South Africa’s chief executive Gerald Majola’s immediate future may not be settled at a board of directors’ meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The voting members of the CSA board, consisting of the 11 affiliate presidents, have the power to suspend Majola for 180 days, or accept his request for three months’ leave of absence.
“[They] may not come to a final decision on Saturday as all kinds of issues need to be considered,” CSA spokesperson Michael Owen-Smith said.
The first item on the agenda was to elect a new acting president, after AK Khan resigned from the position at a management committee meeting on Wednesday. The incumbent would then chair the meeting.
“The principal business on the agenda will be the election of a new acting president to serve until the annual general meeting in September, and the Nicholson report.”
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula appointed an inquiry headed by retired judge Chris Nicholson in November 2011 to investigate CSA’s finances.
Khan and CSA audit and risk committee chairperson John Blair resigned following the scathing report released last Friday.
‘Bedevilled’
According to the report there was a prima facie case that Majola had contravened sections 234, 235 and 236 of the Companies Act, and that the board had protected Majola.
Khan told Talk Radio 702 that, in hindsight, the matter could have been dealt with more expediently.
“I just believe that this particular saga has bedevilled us for so long,” Khan said.
“We’ve not been able to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion and I feel we have let the cricketing public of South Africa down and I want to apologise unreservedly for that.”
He was confident the board would bring the matter to a close.
“The report is being deliberated by the board now and I’m sure they’ll make their decisions in the next few days going forward.”
Last year, former CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka was ousted by the board after it carried a motion of no-confidence against him. However, the board could not table a similar motion against Majola as he was an employee of CSA, and not an honorary office bearer.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Dennis Cruywagen, who calls himself a close associate of the CEO, he said Majola would ask for a three-month leave of absence.
“[This was] so that he can prepare himself to defend his integrity, reputation, and career,” Cruywagen said.
Cruywagen said it would be almost impossible for CSA, which previously had acquitted Majola, to now call him to a disciplinary hearing. — Sapa