The board has mandated its chairperson to appoint an interim chief executive to fill in during Thabang Moroes suspension. (Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)
Cricket South Africa’s board of directors has suspended interim chief executive Thabang Moroe. The move comes toward the end of a nightmare week which has seen stakeholders at all levels — from sponsors and franchises, to fans and former players — come down vociferously on the organisation.
“The Board of Directors of Cricket South Africa has taken a decision to put the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Thabang Moroe, on precautionary suspension with pay, effective 06 December 2019, on allegations of misconduct, pending further investigations,” CSA said in a statement.
“The decision to place Mr Thabang Moroe on precautionary suspension follows from the reports received by the Social and Ethics Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board related to possible failure of controls in the organisation.”
CSA was due for crunch talks on Saturday but with the pressure seemingly building by the minute, it is likely the board decided that some sort of decisive action was needed immediately. In the last 24 hours alone, various provincial franchises have called for the whole board to step down, while Standard Bank has announced that it will not be renewing its sponsorship. For an organisation that already has a projected four-year loss of R650-million, the financial blow of the sponsor’s withdrawal is catastrophic.
“During the course of Mr Thabang Moroe’s precautionary suspension,” the statement continued. “A forensic audit of critical aspects of the business and the conduct of management related to such aspects shall be conducted by an independent forensic team. In this regard, we urge all our stakeholders including sponsors, members of staff, players, volunteers and cricket fans to allow this process to unfold and we will provide updates on this matter.”
While it’s clear that CSA has been in disarray for quite some time, it was the inexplicable decision to revoke the accreditation of five journalists last weekend that burst the dam wall. The situation has snowballed since then and has left South African cricket in a state of complete uncertainty.
The board has mandated its chairperson to appoint an interim chief executive to fill in during Moroe’s suspension.