Cricket South Africa (CSA) Asserts Crisis Has Been Avoided; Members' Council And Board Reach Agreement

Cricket South Africa (CSA)‘s interim board and decision-making members’ council has revealed to have avoided being defunded and derecognized by the country’s sports minister after reaching a common agreement. The Members’ Council, a body of 14 provincial members, facilitated with the highest decision-making powers at the CSA and the interim board met on Sunday to sort out the issues. The government threatened to remove the recognition of all the country’s national teams.

It would have meant that South Africa would not have been eligible to compete in international cricket with its national federation stripped of its status. The agreement between the interim board and the members’ council was announced late Sunday night and two days after Sports Minister Nathi Mathethwa intended to revoke CSA of its status as the game’s official governing body in the nation.

Mthethwa presented the CSA three options to agree to the new structure as part of his efforts to iron out the governing issues. While the Members’ council were initially reluctant to an independent majority board; however, the possibility of cricket ceasing to exist made them change their minds.

Stavros Nicolaou, interim board chair, mentioned that they have reached a vital milestone, with the Members’ Council and the Board agreeing on a new governing structure.

“Today we reached an important milestone, and I am delighted that the Members’ Council and the Board reached agreement on a new governance structure,” Nicolaou stated as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

We trust that this important agreement will give confidence to all cricket’s stakeholders: CSA

Stavros Nicolaou stated they have managed to abide by the mandate handed to them by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. Nicholaou also hopes that the forthcoming agreement would give confidence to the stakeholders, including players, staff, and all the countrymen who love cricket. CSA is set to adopt the new Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) in the next 48 hours, meaning the Sports Minister takes back his decision and CSA can run the cricketing activities in South Africa.

“We have now successfully managed to fulfill the mandate given to us by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. We trust that this important agreement will give confidence to all cricket’s stakeholders specifically, players, staff, sponsors and all in the country who love the game of cricket. We owed it to our country to find a solution to cricket’s governance challenges,” he added.

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