Johannesburg — Cricket South Africa hopes that restoring trust with sponsors, the players and various other stakeholders will be accelerated now that it has finally appointed Pholetsi Moseki as the organisation’s permanent Chief Executive.
Moseki, who’s agreed a five year contract, had been filling that position in an acting capacity since December 2020, and takes up the position at a challenging time for all sports from a financial perspective. In Cricket SA’s case those issues are exaggerated by problems the organisation created for itself, chiefly by previous occupiers of the CEO position.
“In five years time I do hope there will be a farewell party attended by everyone. I won’t be chased away by lawyers before my time ends as has been the case with some of my predecessors,” Moseki quipped.
ANNOUNCEMENT 🔊
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) March 16, 2022
CSA is proud to announce the appointment of Mr Pholetsi Moseki as the permanent CEO of Cricket South Africa.
Mr Moseki has been the acting CEO since December 2020#BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/KLewgMgx2S
Gerald Majola was removed as CEO in 2012 for not declaring bonus payments after a 12 year stint following the Nicholson Inquiry. In 2017 Haroon Lorgat mutually agreed to depart after four years in the wake of concerns about the Global League T20. Thabang Moroe was finally dismissed in 2020, over a plethora of scandals which were outlined in the Fundudzi Forensic Audit.
All of which has left trust in Cricket SA, from stakeholders within the organisation like the players and those on the outside like sponsors at a low ebb. Recent changes at Board level have helped to move the needle in a positive direction but controversies surrounding Black Lives Matter, and then the Social Justice and Nation building hearings and the how the new board has handled those matters, have made an already difficult environment created by Covid restrictions even more challenging for CSA.
Not having a permanent CEO for so long further aggravated issues regarding trust even more. “One of the biggest challenges we are facing as the organisation, is that we’ve lost a lot of faith among our stakeholders, media, fans…that is something that we definitely need to rebuild,” said Moseki, who was originally the federation’s chief financial officer.
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“To break trust is very easy but building it takes a very long time. Me being confirmed as CEO doesn’t mean there will be trust in the system, it’s going to be something that we work on as an organisation. We are committed to that and it must be something that people can see, so that it’s not just something that we say.”
His appointment will help, because within the organisation, direction has been lacking with a number of senior executive positions, currently not filled, or with people doing them in an acting capacity. Moseki said that CSA would be advertising for those positions in the next few weeks, with the Director of Cricket role among them.
The contract of the current Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, finishes at the end of the month. Smith is currently in the final stages of an arbitration process with CSA related to findings against him contained in the SJN report. The chairman of the CSA Board of Directors, Lawson Naidoo confirmed that the position would be advertised in the coming days, and that a rigorous recruitment process will be undertaken.
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Naidoo said the Board hoped that Moseki’s appointment would mean that the number of targets the organisation has set for itself will be achieved quicker given his understanding of the inner workings of CSA. “Pholetsi has the institutional knowledge about what has happened in the last three years that he’s been here at CSA. He understands the whole of the cricketing ecosystem, and is therefore someone who can step into the role and make an impact immediately.”
Allied to rebuilding trust is ensuring CSA can secure new sponsors, to aid the critical financial issues affecting the organisation. “Finance is a priority,” said Moseki. “The environment has totally changed. The economy is quite tough, getting sponsorships is tough not just for cricket but all sporting codes. Part of this strategy is to look at the whole ecosystem and try to monetise whatever properties we have, and diversify our revenues streams including sponsorship but also digital programmes. It will take into account where the world is currently.”
One entity that CSA is keen to use, is the national women’s which has been steadily improving on the field, but with little to show in terms of financial returns. “The patriarchal nature of society makes it quite a challenge (getting sponsors for women’s cricket.) Our women’s team is playing brilliantly. If they bring that (World Cup) back in April, because it will definitely help us with the commercialisation drive that we are embarking on, on women’s cricket. It will definitely help to get sponsors so that it does become a revenue generator.”
IOL Sport