Cricket SA president Chris Nenzani resigns with immediate effect

Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Chris Nenzani has resigned with immediate effect.

Nenzani‚ who has been the head honcho of the embattled organisation since February 2013‚ stepped down on Friday when he submitted his letter of resignation.

Nenzani’s resignation‚ less than a month before he was due to step down as the organisation’s president at next month’s annual general meeting‚ draws the curtain on an extra year in the presidency that has seen CSA implode spectacularly on and off the field.

It comes 24 hours after CSA dismissed chief operations officer Naasei Appiah with immediate effect for “transgressions of a serious nature”. But the defiant official’s lawyer insisted that the matter is far from over.

Appiah has been suspended since October last year and his legal representative Thapelo Kharametsane laughed off the dismissal.

They told TimesLIVE that there is still a long way to go “unless someone at CSA comes to his or her senses”.

CSA are scheduled for a follow up appearance before the parliamentary committee on sports‚ arts and culture on August 25 after Nenzani led the delegation that was grilled by the committee on June 19.

Nenzani’s two terms of three years each expired last year‚ but was asked to serve an extra year as president‚ something which he said he regretted at a parliamentary sports portfolio committee meeting in June.

At that said meeting‚ Nenzani said the independent report into suspended chief executive officer Thabang Moroe was due to be completed.

That deadline wasn’t met and parts of the report have yet to be made public.

On June 4‚ TimesLIVE reported that CSA had missed deadlines with regards to Moroe’s disciplinary matter.

In the extra year that Nenzani has served‚ CSA has been engulfed in scandals that have tarnished the organisation’s image.

Under his watch‚ CSA suspended Moroe in December last year after a turbulent six months where the organisation not only failed to appoint Graeme Smith as the director of cricket according to their agreed deadlines at the end of October‚ but also saw the men’s national team fail miserably at the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

The performances in the subsequent tour of India wasn’t better as the men’s team was heavily beaten in all three Tests.

The Moroe disciplinary proceedings have yet to reach finality with less than a month before September’s AGM where CSA will have to elect new board members and a new president.

On July 12‚ Sunday Times also reported on how Nenzani had a change of heart with regards to Moroe’s suspension during a tumultuous week in December last year where sponsors left CSA while a number of board members also resigned.