The impact of chronic conflict amongst an organisation’s board members can be mirrored through its performance, as the disarray at South African Airways (SAA) illustrates. There is only some point where results can mask the cancerous rot inside. In sporting teams, if left unattended, the failure of the board to execute duty is exposed on the field of play, laid bare for vociferous supporters to pass their verdict.
That is why the corporate governance crisis in the Cricket South Africa Board, highlighted by alleged clash of egos, is lamentable. It threatens to negate the immense gains South Africa’s cricket has made on the international stage. Fortunately, thus far, the performance of the men’s and women’s national cricket teams, competing under the brand of Proteas, has been superb, belying off-field problems like differences on how the transformation blueprint can be implemented and recent allegations of racism.
However, the reality is that the South African cricket teams can only defy the instability of a body that is supposed to provide oversight over it only for so long. At some point, the lingering toxic atmosphere, if ignored, will infect teams’ morale, which has appeared to be immune to off-field shenanigans, so far.
In no doubt, there is no further way to look for evidence about what haphazard administration can do to the field performance of a sporting team than the drop in fortunes of the country’s men’s soccer team, Bafana Bafana. From the pinnacle of African soccer after winning the African Cup of Nations in 1996 and starting to build a name in world football, pitifully, Bafana Bafana has now been reduced to the reference point for mediocrity. Based on recent opinions of the public after Bafana Bafana’s unceremonious failure to qualify for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, the general consensus is that the buck stops with the board or the governance structure.
Evidently, there is no need to overstress that the sooner the board room crisis at Cricket South Africa is addressed the better for cricket. CSA has a bigger fish to fry in the form of implementing the transformation mandate which is bringing the game to so-called previously disadvantaged communities in the country.
It goes without saying that cricket must put its house in order or risk going ‘Bafana Bafana’.