Mthethwa withdraws Section 13 notice against crisis-plagued Cricket SA

The department of sport has confirmed that sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has withdrawn the Section 13 notice that he invoked against Cricket South Africa (CSA).

Mthethwa last week invoked his powers to deregister and defund CSA after the members council voted against amendments in the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI)‚ which serves as CSA’s constitution, to allow for restructuring of the organisation.

Over the past few days there had been developments with the members council and interim board confirming their unanimous decision to accept the new MOI by written resolution as contemplated by Section 60 of the Companies Act.

“Following several attempts to get CSA’s interim board and members council to agree on the contents of a revised Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) as part of the Nicholson Report on the governance of the sport‚ minister Nathi Mthethwa‚ yesterday [Thursday]‚ signalled his decision‚ by way of a notice in the Government Gazette‚ to invoke s13(5)(i) and (ii) of the National Sport and Recreation Act‚ 2007 (Act No 18 of 2007).

“Shortly after the notice was published‚ a letter was received by the minister’s office‚ signed by both CSA’s acting president‚ Mr Rihan Richards‚ and independent board chair Stavros Nicolaou‚ confirming the unanimous decision taken by the members council to accept the new MOI by written resolution as contemplated by Section 60 of the Companies Act.

Mthethwa was quoted as saying: “As the sole purpose of my intervention into the affairs of CSA was to facilitate a negotiated solution in respect of governance best practice‚ I have‚ based on the confirmation from CSA’s acting president and [interim board] chair‚ instructed my department to immediately initiate the requisite process to withdraw the notice.”

Mthethwa reiterated his desire to bring his intervention to an end‚ with a final report from the interim board‚ while CSA proceeded to chart a revised road map towards an annual general meeting.