JOHANNESBURG – Cricket South Africa (CSA) was ordered to reinstate its former president with immediate effect, the high court in Johannesburg ruled on Friday. Mtutuzeli Nyoka was removed from his position in February after a vote of no confidence was passed against him by the board of CSA.
However, Nyoka took CSA to court claiming the correct procedure was not followed because he had not received proper notification of the meeting which led to his ousting. Judge Phineas Mojapelo ruled Nyoka had not been properly notified and his right to be heard was therefore violated.
However, Nyoka will not be reinstated immediately as CSA, following the judgement, released a statement signalling their intention to appeal the decision “in due course”. Nyoka’s legal representative Bernard Matheson said he would wait to see CSA’s appeal before deciding how to proceed.
“I believe that we received a well reasoned judgement,” Matheson told Reuters by telephone. “I have been given CSA’s notice to appeal and we will consider the appeal on its merits,” he added. Nyoka was not in court to hear the decision because he was on a flight to Kenya.
He argued in his affidavit that the reason behind his ousting was his criticism of bonus payments, totalling 4.7 million rand ($684,900), paid to CSA employees following the hosting of the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) and Champions Trophy in South Africa.
CSA chief executive Gerald Majola received 1.77 million rand but was cleared of any financial wrongdoing after CSA conducted an internal enquiry with Nyoka having initially called for an external inquiry.
“CSA removed me not for any justifiable reasons relating to my conduct but because I chose to question and demand action regarding the so-called Indian Premier League bonus scandal involving the CEO of CSA Gerald Majola,” Nyoka said in his affidavit.
“In my view and the view of others, including the independent board members, the IPL bonus issue evidences a serious breach of CSA’s corporate governance,” he added.
