Sascoc on stalemate with CSA: 'There's no need to read the riot act'

Cricket South Africa and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee are yet to find middle ground on the highly contentious forensic report.

The organisations had a joint press conference on Thursday to explain their stances‚ which remained steadfast.

While Sascoc’s acting president Aleck Skhosana said they need to see the full report before appointing a task team to investigate the multiple governance lapses at CSA‚ his cricket counterpart Beresford Williams said they are guided by legal advice with regards to the releasing of the report.

The forensic report that is housed at Bowman Gilfillan offices in Durban‚ Johannesburg and Cape Town‚ can only be viewed with the signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

“On the advice of our legal representatives‚ we’ve been cautioned against the releasing of the report and it’s about three issues that the board and member’s council unanimously agreed on.

"It’s about litigation issues; we’re also in legal processes and liabilities. We as the board and the organisation can’t shift the blame‚” Williams said.

“We need to look at what the liability is and the consequences for the organisation. After sharing the summary of the report and breaking it down with the member’s council‚ they fully support the way forward and they’ll hold the board accountable. The good counsel we received‚ protecting all parties and making sure there’s fairness‚ we have to make sure we’re acting in the best interests of all parties.”

The two organisations have already butted heads with this report issue‚ with Sascoc writing a letter to the International Cricket Council after their attempts to get CSA’s board and senior executive team to step aside failed.

Sikhosana said getting the report was necessary to plot a way forward‚ but they’re not yet in a position to read CSA the riot act.

However‚ the availability of the full report for Sascoc to give to experts for thorough reading and analysis remains the sticking point.

“We must get the report and read the summary. The summary will inform us with regards to the critical skills we’re going to need so we can zoom into the report. We don’t want to put the cart before the horse. Once we get the report‚ we’ll be able to identify the skills required for the report‚” Sikhosana said.

“There’s no need to go to the extremes as we’ve engaged and have continued to engage and co-operate. It will only be then when we’ve failed in all other co-operative means that we’ll move forward. There’s no need to read the riot act. It’ll be bad of us to do.”

Williams said they committed to remaining in consultations with Sascoc and the Olympic body understood their position.

“We are in engagement with Sascoc‚ we’ve been engaging with them and we’ll continue to engage with them. CSA responded in detail with Sascoc with our position. What has been resolved by the member’s council is that the same report they received would be made available to Sascoc under the same conditions‚” Williams said.

“We offered and committed to make the summary report available and provide the necessary breakdown by our legal representatives. That opportunity will be presented to Sascoc’s board.”