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Former Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola Sacked

Categories: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Governance, Sport

Last Friday 19 October, 2012, former Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola was dismissed. The move came after a hearing against him found him guilty of accepting bonuses and not declaring among other charges.

BattingwithBimal [1] reported the announcement:

Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola has been sacked with immediate effect after being found guilty on all nine charges that he was accused of during his disciplinary hearing. Majola has been found guilty of misconduct, accepting bonuses, not declaring them to the board and wrongdoing around travel claims.

The former chief executive was also asked to appear before chairperson Karel Tip for the verdict, but chose not to.

Gerald Majola - Image courtesy of www.sportslive.co.za

Gerald Majola – Image courtesy of www.sportslive.co.za

When Majola, who was given an opportunity to tell his side of the story, and his legal team failed to arrive last Friday, the disciplinary chairperson issued the findings on sanctions, and all of them were agreed to by CSA. The decision in finding Majola guilty has finally brought an end to a three-year long investigation, in which Majola and 39 other staff members were paid a total of R4.7 million (then US$ 671,428) in bonuses after hosting a highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa in 2009.

SportsLeader Reader Blog [2] for Mail & Guardian Online had an interesting post on how one cricket fan gives a perspective of the fall-out on the game in South Africa over the Gerald Majola issue:

I was seven years old; I remember Clive Rice and his team being paraded around Kolkata with garlands around their necks. Millions of Indians took to the streets to welcome the South African cricket team. I had no idea what cricket was, we grew up in a soccer home, Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool were the teams we idolised. This was something new to many South Africans, but many of us took the cricketers to heart. They were from our country, we had a team.

Forward a few years, we were lucky to host the IPL. South Africa showed the world how to do it, at short notice we hosted a magnificent tournament. But something wasn’t right; murmurs of secret bonuses, palace coups were appearing in the media. Our beloved game was being dragged through the mud; the Gauteng Cricket Board lost its rights to host the Proteas. Cricket was in a shambles and we could all see it except the powerful men and women at CSA. Cricket always seemed to be the sport that united us.

Cricbuzz [3] also reported this as follows:

Despite being informed that the hearing would go on even if Majola and his team were not present, they opted to not show up for the disciplinary hearing after indicating that they understood the consequences.On the 19th of October 2012, a sanction handed down by Advocate Karel Tip SC stated that Mr Majola is dismissed from his service with CSA with immediate effect. That decision has finally put an end to a three year long chapter that involved R4.7 million (at that time US$ 671,428), an amount which was paid to Majola and 29 other staff members during the 2009 IPL that was held in South Africa.

This brings an end to Gerald Majola's ten-year reign, making him one of the longest serving CEOs in the cricket world. In his time, South Africa never won any major trophies in ICC but was able to host the Cricket World Cup in 2003 and also the Indian Premier League games in 2009, gaining a wider global audience and extensive television coverage.

The CSA will be recruiting a new CEO to replace Gerald Majola when they meet on 27 October at their annual general meeting.