Chief executive officer Nabeal Dien has detailed the Western Province Cricket Association’s position in the wake of Cricket South Africa’s suspension late last week.
The board of directors of CSA recently exercised step-in rights with immediate effect. They suspended the WPCA board – and appointed professor Andre Odendaal administrator. Odendaal is a former WPCA chief executive officer.
According to CSA, the WPCA board were conducting business under distressed conditions in relation to, among others, administration, governance and financial affairs.
Amid suspension, ‘CSA have taken over decision-making’
“By now you may have seen articles or heard that CSA has exercised their step-in rights to appoint an administrator to oversee the affairs of WPCA,” Dien wrote in an email to WPCA club delegates.
“This means that CSA have taken over the decision-making responsibilities of the WPCA board and appointed professor Andre Odendaal as the administrator to make these decisions on CSA’s behalf until further notice.
Odendaal ‘has respect for work done’ by WPCA
“The WPCA board of directors and president have been suspended until CSA is satisfied that ‘the WPCA administrative and/or financial affairs are conducted according to best practice and in a manner that does not jeopardise the game and administration of cricket in the province.’
“Professor Odendaal has asked me to convey to you that the WPCA came second in the country as the best run and managed province according to CSA’s 2018-19 ‘scorecard’ and that he has respect for the work done by staff, clubs and other stakeholders – including advocate Nicholas Kock and the board. who have been asked to temporarily step down.”
‘Bureaucratic delay’
Earlier this year, the WPCA announced a partnership with financial services group Sanlam to build four new offices at Newlands. The offices will be leased, with Varsity College earmarked for one of the buildings.
The development, which has started, will cost approximately R750 million. Sanlam and the WPCA will reportedly cover 51 and 49 percent of the costs, respectively.
“Professor Odendaal is confident that Western Province’s general affairs are in good order and his aim is for WPCA to return normality as soon as possible. He plans to be involved in a low-key way, with a particular focus on working with me, as operational head, and our partners to make sure the very important stadium development project is fully on track,” added Dien.
“Due to a bureaucratic delay in the signing of one of the agreements, we were put under some pressure recently, but the signing has now happened and our energies will be on assuring CSA, which is an important investor, that WPCA is on top of the work programme and fulfilling its related obligations.
‘Will not affect operation at all’
“This will not affect the operation at all which will continue as before and neither does this have a direct impact on me as the CEO and my executive team. I, as CEO, will report to Andre as the administrator now, rather than a board.
“In terms of governance protocols related to the CSA step-in, our staff members are requested not to interact officially or discuss WPCA matters with the WPCA directors during the step-in rights period. This includes instances where directors are the heads of or members of committees (cricket committee, pipeline Committee, finance, audit and risk, social and ethics, transformation, humand resources, remunerations, etc). For now, no board or sub-committee meetings will be held until we have further clarity.”
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