Cricket South Africa (CSA) sacked Clive Eksteen, their head of sales and sponsor relations. The statement released by CSA said that “a lengthy disciplinary process” that began in December ended with the presiding officer finding Eksteen “guilty of transgressions of a serious nature and his relationship and employment with CSA has therefore been summarily terminated (summary dismissal) with immediate effect”.
Eksteen was a left-arm spinner who played seven Tests and six ODIs for the Proteas between 1991 and 2000.
In October last year, CSA said they suspended Eksteen, Corrie van Zyl and Naasei Appiah. This came after CSA were brought to awareness about the situation involving players and player contracts, through SACA, the South African Cricketers Association. There was alleged non-payment of player fees from the Mzansi Super League (MSL) in 2018.
SACA entered into a formal legal war with CSA at the time. “We are very surprised that Naasei Appiah, Corrie van Zyl and Clive Eksteen have been suspended in relation to allegations surrounding CSA’s non-compliance with the 2018 MSL commercial agreement,” then chief executive Tony Irish was quoted as saying in a release on October 31. “SACA didn’t deal with Appiah on this issue and in its dealings with Van Zyl and Eksteen over many months they both expressed a strong desire to resolve the payment issue, but it eventually became clear that higher approval to do so was necessary.”
“We think it’s highly unlikely that [Moroe] would not have been aware of this ongoing issue. He was undoubtedly aware of payment obligations as he had signed the agreement.”
However, the latest release from day before had quoted Moroe as saying: “CSA wants to reassure all cricket fans and all cricket stakeholders that our organisation and indeed our staff adhere to the highest ethical standards in all our dealings and that consistency and accountability remains uppermost in all our processes and procedures. It is our expectation that all our staff members, including third-party stakeholders who are associated with the CSA brand should protect the reputation of CSA and the sport of cricket at all times.”
In December, CSA said Moroe himself had been put on “precautionary suspension with pay… on allegations of misconduct, pending further investigations.”
Moroe’s fate remains undecided. Sunday’s release promised progress: “CSA assures all stakeholders that the rest of the outstanding disciplinary cases will also be concluded soon, so that the situation around these matters can soon be stabilised.”