CAPE TOWN – National Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa took swift action on Wednesday with the removal of retired Judge Zak Yacoob as the chairman of the CSA Interim Board.
Yacoob has been replaced with fellow interim board member Dr Stavros Nicolaou. The former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa has been the centre of a storm after launching a verbal tirade at a newspaper journalist over the weekend.
Cricket SA have previously been placed under the microscope for its treatment of the media after former chief executive Thabang Moroe revoked the accreditation of five senior cricket journalists in 2019.
Although Yacoob has offered an apology, Mthethwa believed it was still in the best interests of CSA’s Interim Board that the 72-year-old vacates his position.
“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution, to safeguard the tremendous work done by the Interim Board, under his stewardship. The Judge showed remorse and apologised for his role in the call with the journalist.
“I take this opportunity to thank him for accepting my invitation to chair the Interim Board, as well as for his leadership, throughout the process,” Mthethwa said.
The CSA Interim Board was formed, and later approved by the CSA Members’ Council, after the South African Council of Sports (Sacoc) and the Sports Ministry had intervened in the running of CSA following a sustained period of administrative malfunction.
However, the CSA Interim Board has not been without controversy either with former South African Cricketers Association (Saca) president and CSA Interim Board member Omphile Ramela challenging his removal as a board member in court.
Ramela, who was part of the initial nine-member interim board that was announced on October 30, was removed from the board along with former Easterns Cricket president Xolani Vonya on December 10. Vonya has since been reinstalled on the board.
Ramela claimed he was contesting his removal “upon the conduct of the board and its members” with Yacoob referring to the former Highveld Lions and Cape Cobras batsman as an “obstructive” director and a “young man” who is hell-bent on frustrating the work of the interim board.
IOL Sport