Majola got R8.1m in bonuses
The explosive news that Cricket SA CEO Gerald Majola received a total of R8.1m in bonuses was a late revelation at the ministerial enquiry being held before retired judge Chris Nicholson.
The Times reports: “The commission had previously heard that Majola received R5.3-million in Cricket SA bonuses and benefits in the 2009-2010 financial year, and an additional R1.4-million from the Indian Premier League.
“Cricket SA board member Ernest Molotsi said yesterday that, for the 2010-2011 financial year, Majola received another R1.4-million bonus, this time from Cricket SA, which was paid into his account before the organisation’s remunerations committee had approved it.
“The head of the remunerations committee, Thandeka Mgoduso, had said she was not aware that the bonuses had been paid because the matter had not been finalised at [remunerations committee] level – it was still under discussion. Therefore that bonus was not authorised,” said Molotsi.
* Former CSA audit committee chairperson Colin Beggs opened proceedings with his presentation.
Beggs said CSA CEO Majola and former chief operations officer Don McIntosh received more than two-thirds of the money allocated to IPL bonuses.
“I don’t know who had the authority to decide that it was an appropriate split for these two executives to get the majority of that, whereas the remaining 20-odd staff got … (the balance).”
He said Majola should have known that he had to declare his bonuses and could not claim afterwards that he was unaware he had to disclose them to Remco.
“There were a lot of pointers towards a code of conduct and declaration of any interest that one might receive,” Beggs said.
“It is virtually the first item, after apologies, to declare any interests one has. “The point is there were just so many opportunities to do that. ”
Majola is scheduled to be the last person to face the ministerial committee, on Wednesday.
In between 702′s John Robbie testified as to the public damage he believed has been done to the game, whose traditional sponsors have almost all declined to be aligned with the sport this season. Instead, one tournament after another languishes in crowdless anonymity.
* Primedia reports that Robbie told the Nicholson Enquiry he was ostracised by Cricket South Africa (CSA) for his comments and queries into alleged corruption within the sports body.
Robbie told the enquiry that he first picked up a problem with the IPL when suite-holders were not allowed to use their sky boxes.
He says the more vocal he became about the problems brought to his attention by listeners, the more he fell out of favour with CSA officials, who refused to give him radio interviews.
Robbie said as a diehard cricket supporter, he has become disillusioned by the scandal that has engulfed the sport in the country.
He also emphasised the importance of transformation in the sport, saying that is where time and money should be spent.
* It was Beggs who first noted that CSA staff had been paid undeclared bonuses, and had called for an external audit into CSA finances, along with former remuneration committee chair Paul Harris and former finance committee chair Hentie van Wyk.
In what was to become a familiar outcome for anyone questioning the bonuses, all three were voted off the board, and once former CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka called for an external investigation, he was ousted in a vote of no confidence.
Nyoka won a court case and was reinstated in May, but re-ousted in October.
Majola has remained mum on the bonus saga, but can expect a good going over by the commission, which will report back to the sports ministry’s Fikile Mbalula before Christmas.
Last week’s testimony showed administrators toeing the line as they were afraid they would lose their position of privilege at CSA’s table. The inquiry was told how administrators of a Section 21 company travelled business-class around the world, with their partners, and rewarded themselves with big bonuses fuelled by booming TV revenue, while at grassroots the game languished.
The inquiry heard that Majola had pocketed R5,3 million for the most recent financial year. This was in sharp contrast to the game elsewhere in the country. Former Gauteng Cricket Board chairperson Barry Skjoldhammer, one of the first victims of Majola’s wrath in 2009, said every club bar the universities in Gauteng was struggling.
This while the organisation has assets of more than R700 million. Alexandra, Kagiso and Alexandra were cited as three examples of clubs that were languishing in disrepair while board members paid themselves large sums and administrators keen to stay in clover voted with Majola.
Nicholson asked Skjoldhammer if the fact that provincial presidents were “in a queue to get money from the chief executive officer for their provinces” and “won’t challenge him because they will go to the back of the queue” had led to a compliant board.
Skjoldhammer said this was the case.
* The Times’s Archie Henderson reports on Monday morning: “Last week, it emerged in the Delhi parliament that the Indian government was looking into alleged foreign exchange violations amounting to 10.77-billion rupees.
“The investigation covered money transfers made without permission of the country’s reserve bank during the 2009 Indian Premier League staged in South Africa.” – Staff reporter, SportsCentral
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