Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa fires CSA board chair Zak Yacoob after tirade against journalist
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has told the Cricket SA interim board that its chair,justice Zak Yacoob, must go.
The minister met the board on Wednesday afternoon and communicated his desire for Yacoob to step downafter bringing Cricket SA into disrepute.
Mthethwa said he had been stunned whenhe read the Sunday Times and then listened on TimesLIVE to the volley of insults that the retired judge of the Constitutional Court fired at Arena Holdings journalist Tiisetso Malepa during a heated interview.
The minister was also not happy with the way the judgedealt with suspended acting CSA CEO Kugandrie Govender.
“I met with the judgeand I expressed to him my disappointment with how he conducted himself. I also informed that him he will have to go‚” Mthethwa said to TimesLIVE.
“Later on when I met with the board‚ I made it clear to them that there must be circumspection and [they must be] respectful when dealing with the media.
“I also informed them that with Yacoob stepping down‚ in his stead Dr Stavros Nicolaou will be the chair.”
Nicolaou will serve as acting chairuntil the end of the interim board’s term of office on February 15.
Govender alleged that she had been verbally harassed by Yacoob.
A disciplinary hearing against Govender is set for January 28 after her suspension in December on three counts of alleged misconduct.
In two letters of grievance‚ seen by TimesLIVE‚ that she wrote on December 2 and 3 to the CSA members’ council‚ Govender claims she was treated unfairly by Yacoob.
This allegedly included an impromptu vote of no confidence in her as acting CEO.
When the vote was not resolved‚ Yacoob allegedly offered her R5‚000 of his own money to seek legal counsel.
Yacoob reacted angrily in a telephone discussion with TimesLIVE.
He said: “You are a dishonest‚ irresponsible idiot.
“You are a rogue and dirty journalist.
“I prefer not to answer your questions and to air my views when the inquiry comes up [on January 28].
“Where do you get that bulls**t from? Where do you get your idiotic notions from?”
CSA interim board spokesperson Judith February said in a one-line response to questions submitted by TimesLIVE that “the information contained in your message [questions] is wholly inaccurate”.
“Ms Govender’s hearing will proceed on January 28 and that will be the appropriate forum for adjudication‚” she said.
Govender says she wrote an e-mail to Yacoob on November 8 to highlight how‚ in her view‚ interim board member and former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat might have contravened CSA media policy by giving an interview to an international publication without following prescribed procedures.
The next day‚ she was summoned to a meeting through Lorgat.
“I called the interim chair [Yacoob] to explain that I was not available for that time and he became very aggressive with me‚ accusing me of having someone else write the e-mail‚ and of factionalism‚” Govender wrote in her first letter of grievance‚ dated December 2.
At a subsequent meeting on November 28‚ Govender alleges she was humiliated by Yacoob over the content of the e-mail‚ including her word usage and punctuation.
After two hours of this meeting‚ she says‚ fellow interim board directors Prof Andre Odendaal‚ Xolani Vonya and Nkeko Mampuru said they felt she was not being treated fairly.
However‚ Yacoob allegedly disagreed.
On December 3‚ Govender wrote a second grievance letter after another interaction with Yacoob and the interim board‚ at a meeting where‚ she claims‚ she was berated for failing to respond to a question sent via e-mail by an interim board member the day before — which had also been the start of England’s tour to SA and therefore a day filled with challenges.
“I was rebuked for being a CEO who ‘inspires no confidence if I could miss an e-mail’‚” and this rebuke was followed by the impromptu vote of no confidence in her‚ Govender alleges.
However‚ the meeting moved on without the vote being concluded‚ and “I declined the chair’s personal contribution of R5‚000 towards legal fees for me to engage a lawyer to advise me.”
On Wednesday this weekYacYacoob declined to answer any questions until Govender’s letters of grievance were shared with him.
“Why do I owe you an explanation?” he asked. “Who the hell are you? Will you print my remarks that I said that‚ in my view‚ you are an irresponsible journalist and I do not owe you any explanation?”
Interim board members Odendaal and Mampuru both said they could not answer questions when asked to corroborate the contents of Govender’s grievance letters.
TimesLIVE