- CSA's proposed interim board chair Zak Yacoob has lashed out at the Members' Council.
- The Members' Council is refusing to hand over power to the interim board despite instruction from sports minister Nathi Mthethwa.
- Yacoob says the board remains committed to cleaning up cricket, despite this setback.
Cricket South Africa's (CSA) proposed interim board, chaired by Judge Zak Yacoob, will continue to do the work mandated by sports minister Nathi Mthethwa despite not being recognised by the organisation's Members' Council.
In what has fast become a stand-off of epic proportions, the Members' Council on Thursday sent shockwaves through South African cricket by refusing to acknowledge the interim board and hand over power, effectively ignoring Mthethwa's clear instructions.
Mthethwa has since expressed his disappointment at the Members' Council, threatening further intervention that could place CSA at risk in relation to its standing with the ICC.
It seems that everybody involved in South African cricket is of the opinion that the Members' Council must step aside and hand over the reins to Yacoob's independent board, except for the Members' Council themselves.
Addressing media on Friday, Yacoob suspected that the Members' Council decision had also been significantly influenced by members of the existing CSA executive.
The Members' Council will convene again on Friday night and if they do not agree to sign in the interim board, then Yacoob believes South Africa could very well lose its limited overs series against England with the 50-over world champions set to arrive in the country on Monday.
Yacoob was scathing of the Members' Council throughout the press conference, saying that dealings between the two bodies over the last two weeks since the interim board was unveiled made it clear that CSA was not in a position to self-correct.
Yacoob further committed the independent board, which also includes former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat, to clean up the game, which has been under a cloud of administrative ruin for well over a year now.
"Our approach is that we have been mandated by the minister to do a particular job of a clean-up in relation to cricket. We take our job seriously," Yacoob said, emphasising the independence of the board.
"The minister is not going to tell us what to do, but if he makes a suggestion, we will consider it very carefully.
"The Members' Council, too, is not going to tell us what to do. Nobody will dictate our action under any circumstances. We will continue our work, although it is difficult for us.
"We want to make sure that the players remain interested, organised and committed.
"Let us demonstrate that we, who are involved in the game of cricket on a day to day basis, can rise above those who are there to tarnish us."
There has currently been no communication between the interim board and the ICC, who would need to take a stance on these affairs if Mthethwa forces his hand and instructs the Members' Council to step down through direct interference.
"It will be sad if the minister has to proceed in terms of the legislation, but that is going to be the fault of the Members' Council and that is for the Members' Council to answer to," said Yacoob.
"I don't want to mention the names of people, but I would like to confirm that those members of the administration who we have reacted with have been uncooperative, difficult, unresponsive, arrogant and sometimes rude. That has been part of the problem.
"We have been trying to get information from them, trying to bring them to account and my suspicion is that it is because of the administration's dissatisfaction with the board that they have probably complained to the Members' Council. There is a strong chance that the executive had had a great deal of influence in this decision to exclude the interim board."
Yacoob said that it was accepted in good faith – from both the minister and those at CSA - that the interim board had been appointed.
"We believed that the Members' Council would legitimate us, the minister believed that the Members' Council would legitimate us and then they didn't do so," said Yacoob.
"They broke their promise, and they broke that promise because we as the proposed board began interfering too quickly and they became uncomfortable."
The interim board will continue to place the Members' Council under pressure, Yacoob says.
"There is much we can still do in liaising with other organisations, there is much we can do to pressure the Members' Council to recognise us, there is much we can do to put the administration into a place where they recognise their position more and more," he said.
"We are going to keep the pressure on at every level to ensure that they pushed to cooperate with us."
One of the major concerns presently is that, with increased involvement from Mthethwa, CSA runs the risk of being suspended by the ICC with the game's governing body making it clear in its constitution that political control of its member councils is not accepted.
"We express the hope that the ICC will understand that the minister is not interfering in the affairs of cricket," said Yacoob.
"All the minister did was appoint an independent board and we, as an independent board, are saying that the minister cannot and will not tell us what to do. He did it with the consent of everybody and tried very gently to put affairs in CSA right.
"If it is necessary for us to talk to the ICC about this, we will make it quite clear that the minister's appointment of the board does not amount to interference. If CSA contends that, it will be continuing in its misleading attitude."
On the highly-publicised Fundudzi report, which interrogated CSA's administrative leadership for a four-year period dating back to 2016, Yacoob said that the interim board had not yet discussed whether to release the findings publicly.
It was his opinion that the report should be released, but he conceded that the board had not reached that matter in its two weeks of operation so far.
"The board is considering whether to release it to the public, but the board has not discussed it," he said.
"I'm taking the risk and telling you my own view which is that there is no reason why, if we take out the names, the report should not be released to the public."
At its press conference on Thursday, the Members' Council through acting CSA president Rihan Richards committed to cleaning up its own mess, saying that it still had the best interests of the game at heart.
When asked if he believed CSA had that capacity in its current state, Yacoob could not have been any clearer.
"No chance at all, I'm afraid," he said.
"Everything that has happened in the last two weeks has told us that they can't self-correct but, of course, miracles can happen. Absent of a miracle, there is no chance at all.
"There is absolutely nothing personal at all. It is only that they do not want interference in their affairs. They did not want the furniture moved, the cage rattled or the garden dug up at this stage.
"If the Members' Council insists that the board be placed under their thumb, then there is no chance of us working together. This is not the type of board that can be under anyone's thumb."