Jacques Faul will step down as CEO of Cricket South Africa (CSA) in September. Faul was appointed by the CSA board last December following Thabang Moroe’s suspension, the second time he had filled in as acting CEO, having stood in for Gerald Majola in 2012/13 after a bonus scandal which rocked the sport.
Since then Faul had mended the dysfunctional relationships CSA had with the players’ union and sponsors; ensured there had been no cost-cutting or retrenchments since the pandemic struck the domestic game; and got high-profile figures like Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt involved again with the Proteas as the national team looked to rebound from a dismal 2019.
Faul’s initial contract had run until the end of June, but the CSA board hired him for an additional three months. While Faul said he could not comment on his resignation, a CSA executive told The Citizen that he had e-mailed the board to confirm he would be standing down on September 15 and that he would inform CSA staff on Thursday.
A source close to Faul said he was discouraged by the uncooperative relationship he had with some CSA exco and board members in trying to secure the financial future of the organisation and ensure that the Proteas remained competitive on the global stage.
The beleaguered organisation was already facing losses of close to a billion rand before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
In addition, it had still not made any meaningful progress on the charges laid against former CEO Thabang Moroe after a forensic audit (the contents of which were long overdue) and the federation was trying to douse the flames following allegations of racism in cricket and criticism that its transformation programmes had failed.
Faul is not likely to be lost to cricket, however, as he is expected to return to his previous full-time position as chief executive of the Titans franchise and the Northerns Cricket Union.
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
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