Majola has been fired with immediate effect

Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola has been sacked with immediate effect after being found guilty on all nine charges that he was accused of during his disciplinary hearing.

Majola has been found guilty of misconduct, accepting bonuses, not declaring them to the board and wrongdoing around travel claims.

Mojola’s disciplinary hearing took place last week, and went on even though he withdrew from the proceedings.

The former chief executive was also asked to appear before chairperson Karel Tip for the verdict, but chose not to.

When Majola, who was given an opportunity to tell his side of the story, and his legal team failed to arrive last Friday, the disciplinary chairperson issued the findings on sanctions, and all of them were agreed to by CSA.

The decision in finding Majola guilty has finally brought an end to a three-year long investigation, in which Majola and 39 other staff members were paid a total of R4.7 million (then US$ 671,428) in bonuses after hosting a highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa in 2009.

Three individual investigations revealed that money had not been properly declared to the board and this was in violation of the principles of corporate governance.

Even though the matter was an internal one, Tip decided to share the 10-page document about Majola’s case with the public since “it is a matter of broad public interest.”

Point 3.2 on the document says: “An honest man would have been acutely aware of the fact that he was de facto concealing his own substantial bonus payment.”

But, as point 3.4 states, “the bonus transaction was dealt with in the accounts of CSA in a manner that was calculated to avoid its detection.”

Points 3.6 and 3.7 on the document explain how Majola failed to report the amount of money he had received.

“Despite many opportunities, Mr Majola failed to disclose the bonus when he had a clear and ongoing duty to do so, Even worse, Mr Majola expressly lied about it, avowing more than once that he ‘had not received a cent,” the documents said.

Tip stated that he was disgusted with Majola’s behaviour, and that this matter had left a stain on the good sport of cricket.

Point 3.9 on Tip’s document says: “n general, his conduct in relation to the bonuses, his continued denial of any wrongdoing, his active part in events that have brought disruption and division within cricket, and his avoidance of a prompt resolution of the matter through due and prescribed processes, have materially contributed to bringing CSA – and the sport of cricket in this country – into disrepute.”

During the hearing, Tip also heard first-hand testimony confirming that CSA had struggled to find sponsors throughout the 2011-2012 season, and that an ODI and Twenty20 series against Australia, along with the domestic one-day tournament had taken place without any corporate sponsors.

These accusations have severely dented CSA’s reputation, and Tip touched upon this in point 5.6 on his document, which states: “In general, the CEO is the public face of the organisation. He has to project and uphold the integrity and character of CSA. Mr Majola has done the opposite and this has dealt a heavy blow to CSA and to cricket.”

The reason why Tip declared Majola guilty was due to the fact that he never admitted to any wrongdoing and failed to show any understanding or remorse for his actions.

In point 15, Tip added: “It is also so that Mr Majola has at no stage shown any remorse or contrition in respect of his conduct. He has given no indication of which I am aware that he has appreciated the true nature of his conduct and, likewise, he has evidently not accepted any wrongdoing on his part. As a result, a prolonged and corrosive situation of uncertainty has been in place at CSA. As the CEO he had a duty to prevent that.”

Tip concluded that Majola should be dismissed since “these factors too weigh against any prospect that a properly functioning employment relationship could be resumed.”

As of right now, CSA have implemented the sanction and will start to recover all the bonus money from Majola.

In the sanction issued by CSA, only Majola and COO Don McIntosh are being asked to give back the bonuses they took, while the rest of the staff will not face any legal action.

Earlier last week, the CSA already agreed to appointing five independent directors who will sit on the board, while on Ocotber 27 during their AGM, CSA are also set to finalise their new board structure.

During this meeting, there will be five provincial presidents who will be sworn in as the independent directors, and the board will also be looking for a new CEO, which is temporarily being occupied by Jacques Faul.

Faul and former International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Haroon Lorgat are the two main candidates for the CSA CEO job.