Cricket South Africa has potentially avoided being derecognised and defunded by the country's sports ministry after agreeing to adopt a new Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) that will include a framework for a majority independent board. The members' council - the body made up of 14 provincial presidents which has the highest decision-making powers at CSA - and interim board met on Sunday, to iron out the new MOI.
They reached an agreement two days after sports minister Nathi Mthethwa issued a notice of his intention to strip CSA of its status as the game's official governing body in the country and five days before Mthethwa's actions were due to be published in the government gazette. Mthethwa had given CSA three ultimatums to agree to the new structure as part of his efforts to sort out governance issues in cricket. Until Sunday the members' council were resistant to a majority independent board, but under threat of the game ceasing to exist in the country, changed their minds.
"Today we reached an important milestone, and I am delighted that the members' council and the Board reached agreement on a new governance structure," Stavros Nicolaou, interim board chair, said.
"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."
CSA will adopt the new MOI in the next 48 hours which should mean Mthethwa reverses his decision and cricket in South Africa will continue to be run by CSA.