Photo Credit: Cricket South Africa
Following today’s media briefing by Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), CSA echoes its position on the disclosure of the forensic report.
While various CSA stakeholders, groups and individuals have requested the disclosure of the forensic report, CSA again today reiterated that the forensic report was commissioned as an internal document, which was never intended for public release.
To ensure that the management of the forensic report and the implementation of the recommendations and findings subscribes to the principle of fairness, as well as ensuring that such management and implementation is done in the best interests of CSA, the organisation sought a legal opinion from Bowmans Attorneys on the distribution of the forensic report.
Bowmans’ legal opinion outlined the implications of disclosure of the contents of the forensic report to the public. The firm of legal experts made it clear that significant damage and/or harm could be done to CSA for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, any current or future legal and other proceedings in relation to matters dealt with in the report, and that CSA would likely be prejudiced.
“The distribution of the report may well frustrate the very purpose for which the forensic report was commissioned. It is therefore important to understand that the contents of the report may also lead to litigation. In addition, there are also certain aspects of the forensic report which require further investigation,” said Mogodi, a non-independent director to the Board of CSA.
To this end, the CSA Board appointed Bowmans Attorneys to assist the independent Audit and Risk Committee members to project manage a legal roadmap to give effect to all findings and recommendations. The forensic report has been made available to all members of the CSA Members’ Council for inspection, subject to certain conditions, including the execution of the non-disclosure agreement. Such limited disclosure has been made in the interests of transparency whilst safeguarding CSA and mitigating any potential harm to CSA and other parties, which may be caused by the unregulated disclosure of the forensic report.
To comply with its direct stakeholders’ request for a copy of the forensic report, and considering the potential legal implications of the distribution of the document, CSA instructed Bowmans to compose a summary presentation of the forensic report, which CSA has agreed to share with SASCOC.
CSA is positive that it has entered into positive dialogue with SASCOC and that the organisation is making great strides to form a collaborative agreement in the best interest of cricket in South Africa, good governance and operations.
“In so far as the provision of access to the forensic report is concerned, we, the Members Council, fully understand SASCOC’s frustration for not being provided unrestricted access to a copy of the forensic report. However, as stated at today’s press briefing, the distribution of the forensic report comes with major potential legal implications. We will therefore be having a separate discussion with SASCOC to resolve the issues pertaining to the report in the interim, by allowing Bowmans to present the summary of the findings to the relevant SASCOC officials,” concluded Mogodi.
We do note that the CSA Board has proposed that the Chair of SASCOC may have full access to the forensic report and forms part of the Independent Directors tasked with implementing the findings and recommendations of this report.
The Members’ Council reaffirmed its position that it fully supports the CSA Board of Directors until the forthcoming AGM. The CSA Board has committed to work with SASCOC and the task team, who is being appointed at SASCOC’s cost.
CSA assures the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Portfolio Committee of Sport, Arts and Culture, the public and all stakeholders, that CSA’s Members’ Council, the Board and the independent Audit and Risk Committee members are taking the necessary action to address the findings and to implement the recommendations as outlined in the forensic report.
Name of Author: Cricket South Africa
Cricket South Africa (CSA) governs cricket in South Africa. Formed in 2002, it succeeded the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) and became the sole governing body in 2008. CSA oversees all levels of cricket, including national teams for men and women, and is a full ICC member and SASCOC affiliate.
