Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 years
In December 2020, Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years at CSA, 15 months after taking over the post in an acting capacity. Moseki’s appointment was confirmed by the CSA board of directors, which took nine months to recruit a new CEO. Moseki’s official term will begin on April 1 and will last for five years.
Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years after a lengthy process that began with an advertisement for the position in August of last year. After a recruitment firm failed to supply appropriate applicants, CSA re-advertised the position and hired a second firm, who nominated former South African Airways CEO Vuyani Jarana for the position. However, Jarana was unable to accept the position, prompting CSA to look internally and recruit Moseki, a trained chartered accountant with over two decades of corporate expertise. Moseki joined CSA as chief financial officer in June 2019 before taking over as acting CEO and now Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years.
Since Thabang Moroe’s suspension in December 2019, CSA has been without a full-time CEO. During that time, the board has had three interim CEO’s: Dr. Jacques Faul, who resigned to continue his job with the Titans domestic team, Kugandrie Govender, who was later sacked for malfeasance, and Moseki, who managed the organisation through the majority of the Covid-19 outbreak. Now after much deliberations Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years.
He has identified his most pressing task as being to rebuild trust in the organisation, which has been through 27 months of administrative upheaval.
“We need to rebuild faith in our organisation, breaking trust is very easy but building it takes a long time. There’s been numerous challenges, which resulted in a lot of our stakeholders losing trust, and me being confirmed CEO doesn’t necessarily mean there is going to be trust. It will be a process, but it is something we are focused on.”
Moseki told a press conference on Wednesday
The players are the most important stakeholders for CSA, and the relationship with them deteriorated under Moroe and has continued to deteriorate. Dean Elgar, the current Test captain, recently joked that, “We’ve had so many different administrations that we don’t even sure who’s in charge anymore,” Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years said, adding, “A lot of our stakeholders, including SACA (South African Cricketers’ Association), have lost faith in the organisation.” It’s something we’ve worked hard to improve. It’s still in the works. From where we were two years ago, our relationship with SACA has greatly improved. In the end, we all want the same thing: cricket’s long-term viability.”
The CSA and SACA are now working on a memorandum of understanding that covers player contracts and commercial deals, and Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years expects it to be finalised “in the next couple of months.” They are said to have already agreed on a few important areas.
The sponsors are the second key stakeholder, and CSA has lost several since the Moroe affair, including main sponsor Standard Bank. “We place a high value on financial matters. The environment has shifted dramatically. Not only for cricket, but also for other sporting codes, the economics is severe” Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years explained. “We’re looking at our entire ecosystem to see how we might diversify our revenue streams as part of our goal.”
He’ll have to do it all without current Director of Cricket [DOC] Graeme Smith, whose contract with the CSA expires at the end of the month. After considering splitting the function into separate cricketing and commercial positions, the CSA has stated it will advertise the position as is, and ESPNcricinfo has reported Smith will not be reapplying for the role. CSA is interested in re-engaging Smith in a consultancy role, but no negotiations about Smith’s future engagement at CSA have yet taken place, according to a reliable source.
“The contract of the DOC comes to an end at the end of this month. We have publicly said that the position will be advertised, and it will be advertised any day now together with a number of other positions, It will be subject to an open and competitive process. The position is an incredibly important one. As we have reviewed the structure, we have looked at the many responsibilities and while there might be some tweaks to it, the job spec as a whole will remain intact.”
Lawson Naidoo, CSA board chair
Pholetsi Moseki appointed CEO for 5 Years, hoped that the appointment of a permanent CEO would help to create a climate in which CSA could fill other vacancies and begin to work at full capacity. “Until the CEO post was confirmed, the company couldn’t advertise for vacancies,” he explained. “For the past few months, the CSA has been operating without two-thirds of its EXCO (executive committee), as they were either suspended or terminated. We anticipate going to the market in the next day or two to begin the process of filling openings.”