Moroe makes stunning submission

THABANG Moroe told the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearing that he was victimised because of his race during his time at Cricket South Africa, including being attacked by the media and, in one mysterious instance, being allegedly undermined by the Proteas players.

Speaking under oath yesterday, CSA’s former chief executive told the hearings how he had been made to look like the bad guy and was blamed for the countless problems that have beset the organisation in the last few years. Those troubles led to a forensic audit and then intervention from Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

CSA fired Moroe in August 2020, stating: “The independent forensic investigation revealed that Mr Thabang Moroe had committed acts of serious misconduct.”

Moroe has approached the courts following that axing, citing wrongful dismissal.

Moroe told the SJN he had not been allowed to properly access documents, including minutes of board meetings, to assist in his defence and so he didn’t “partake in the forensic investigation”.

He talked about how he had been victimised by the media from even before he’d been made acting CEO in 2017 in the wake of the departure of Haroon Lorgat.

Following the appointment of Ottis Gibson as Proteas head coach in 2017, there were a number of debates involving the composition of his coaching staff, Moroe said.

By the start of 2019, a few months before the World Cup, Moroe told the hearings, he had met with Gibson twice to tell him that the board was unhappy with Gibson’s performance.

Moroe told the SJN that he was subsequently “demonised” by the media, who Moroe said had declared he was interfering in team selection.

“I was this individual who was pinned as, ‘he wanted his way, or it was the highway’, essentially,” Moroe told the SJN.

He said he faced this kind of criticism because he was vocal and acted on transformation.

Moroe also told the SJN hearings about a member of the national team who in early 2019 told Moroe about a meeting the player had inadvertently walked in on involving some other players and the team’s management at the time, where they discussed what Moroe told the SJN, the player had told him was a ‘Plan B’.

Ostensibly, Moroe testified, ‘Plan B’ was to feed information to the media, blaming Moroe if the team failed or performed badly at the World Cup, which was taking place later that year.

Moroe had to be reminded by SJN ombudsman Adv Dumisa Ntsebeza about the SJN’s mandate when Ntsebeza felt Moroe started criticising how he’d been suspended by CSA while the forensic investigation was being conducted.

Ntsebeza seemed to show Moroe some sympathy at the end of his lengthy testimony.

“However more complicated our task is going to be when we consider every bit of evidence that has been put before us, it clearly will be made lighter because we now have both your written submission and your testimony today.

“It’s clear for anyone, certainly for me – and this is not a predetermined view – that there are instances in your narrative which show that you were not dealt with fairly, that certain things were done to you because they amount to discrimination,” said Ntsebeza.

“That is my prima facie view, based on what you have stated.”

Ntsebeza then remarked that if anyone were to come forward to say that Moroe “got it all wrong”, he would welcome that.

CSA confirmed that it would make “a formal submission to the Ombud in September”.

The SA Cricketers’ Association – the players’ union which has also been criticised during the hearings – will appear later this month.