- Cricket SA's interim board chairperson retired Judge Zak Yacoob says former Easterns president Xolani Vonya is back on the interim board.
- Vonya was recused from the board on 10 December alongside Omphile Ramela.
- Yacoob said Vonya's accusers at Easterns haven't fully justified their allegations.
Cricket South Africa's interim board chairperson Zak Yacoob said formerly recused board member Xolani Vonya is back on the interim board but did not get deep into the reasons as to why he was allowed back.
Vonya, a former Easterns Cricket Union president, was appointed onto the nine-member structure alongside eight other members.
However, he was recused along with the now removed Omphile Ramela on 10 December, with Yacoob saying at the time of his recusal that there were allegations of dishonesty against Vonya that were not disproved.
Yacoob also said he didn't remember whether there was explicit threat with regards to court action from Vonya with regards to regaining his seat on the board.
"I don't want to talk about what he said because that'll lead me to another controversy. Once people go to attorneys, even though the threat wasn't made specifically, there's the idea that if people aren't let back in, they'll go to court to justify their rights. There wasn’t an explicit threat to go to court in the correspondence if I remember it correctly," Yacoob said.
"It was quite clear that they disputed the correctness of our decision. The allegations made by the Easterns was the last straw and not the only matter. There was a whole range of other issues with regards to his acceptance of majority decisions and certain communications he made. Now that he’s back on the board, I wouldn’t like to go into them."
At the time of his resignation at the end of October, Vonya had been cleared in a report tabled by retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, who said the move to get rid of Vonya at the Union at best amounted to a “fishing expedition” and was irregular.
When Vonya was recused, Yacoob had said the Ngoepe report didn’t clear Vonya, but picked holes in the process that led to his suspension.
In this case, Yacoob said Vonya's accusers at the Easterns have yet to sufficiently justify the allegations made against him
"I'm not sure I’m authorised to tell you this, but I will. At this stage, the Easterns people have not fully justified the allegations they made. They were serious allegations and the more serious the allegations are, the more necessary for them to be justified," Yacoob said.
"We expected justification because the allegations were made with passion at a meeting where Mr Vonya was actually present. He was present at the time when the decision was taken for him to be recused on the basis that this was the last straw. There were other bases which I wouldn’t like to go into because they could prejudice his work on the board. It would be negative to go back to the issues. The board has made and will live with the decision."
Yacoob was firm with regards to the Ramela matter, saying that he wasn’t responding to any newspaper report while adding that CSA will make their own court papers public when they respond to Ramela.
Ramela served CSA with a court application with the view of having his 15 December removal from the interim board set aside.
"He has gone to lawyers. He has brought an application to set aside the board's action in dismissing him and various other relief. The board has decided to oppose that and I won't be saying much more about this because court proceedings have been brought and they must take their course. When our papers are filed, they will be made public," Yacoob said.