Govt Intervention: Players body calls for CSA Board of Directors' resignation

The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) on Wednesday called for en masse resignation of Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Board of Directors after country's Minister of Sports, Art and Culture (DSAC) Nathi Mthethwa announced government intervention to end the administrative impasse.

CSA has been plagued by allegations of racism, payment issues and malpractices in administration which has attracted the central government's attention.

"The crisis that have engulfed the CSA Board of Directors over the past 18 months have culminated in a situation where there is no longer confidence in their ability to govern the organisation and provide guidance on resolving many of the crises that remain,” SACA said in a statement.

The calls for resignation according to players' body is also due to fear of sanctions from the ICC which is closely monitoring the working of its member board.

"Cricket is in an existential crisis, and the intervention of Government will result in the International Cricket Council (ICC) reviewing CSA's position as an ICC Member, and will furthermore jeopardise the England Tour scheduled for next month," said Andrew Breetzke, SACA CEO.

"Players will suffer, development will suffer and the future of the game will be prejudiced."

Both the Ministry and the South African Sports Council and Olympic Committee, which had earlier tried to address the impasse, have rejected attempts by the board members to do so.

"We therefore implore the CSA Board to stand down and thereby take a decision that will be in the best interests of cricket,' Breetzke said, adding that SACA would like to see an interim Board of Directors being established.

"This interim Board should include a SACA players' representative as well as a representative from the remaining stakeholders in the game (sponsors and broadcasters)."

CSA last week angered government officials and the country's Parliament when they released redacted copies of a forensic report that allegedly identifies huge failures in governance.

A number of top CSA executives resigned in the past few months and its CEO, Thabang Moroe, was fired in August.

Earlier there was a furore over claims that senior officials had debarred some of South Africa's top sports journalists because CSA believd that they were reporting negatively about them.

CSA's financial woes have also been worsened by the lack of tours and games for over six months due to the global and local lockdowns because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SACA represents over 300 players in the national, and provincial squads as a collective voice for professional cricketers.