BORDER Cricket Board president, Chris Nenzani, has been elected as the new president of Cricket South Africa (CSA) at the weekend.
Nenzani has a reputation as a straight talker who advocates transformation in the sport.
He was elected at CSA’s annual general meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday and will also act as chairman of the board of directors.
One of the key traits that helped Nenzani climb to the top of CSA’s corporate ladder is his non-negotiable stance on transformation.
“It is imperative; we can’t do without it,” said Nenzani yesterday when the Daily Dispatch spoke to him.
He said transformation would not come at a cost of dividing the nation. The strategic goal of transformation was not on the colour of the person’s skin but to give children opportunities who would have otherwise never had the opportunity.
“Giving them an opportunity is not enough; you need to provide facilities for them to practise as well as mentoring or guidance to ensure they do not disappear through the cracks,” he said.
Nenzani said the emphasis would be on creating a larger pool of black players in provincial franchise teams to increase the number of black players capable of selection for the Proteas.
“Research indicates 20 to 30 years from now the majority of players will be black so we need to sustain and keep them,” he said.
His vision for growing talent is evident in the way Border cricket has transformed itself into a respectable franchise by bringing black talent on board.
With eight black players in their team, the Border team won the recent CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge last month when they beat Free State in the final by three wickets with nearly five overs to spare.
One of the players to have come from Border over the past two seasons is Ayabulela Gqamane, who has established himself at franchise level with the Warriors.
In just three first class matches, he has taken 20 wickets at an average of 10.75.
“You have to stick to what you believe in at all times even if it makes some people unhappy. The results will follow and they will be sustainable,” said Nenzani.
He is expected to resign soon from his current BCB position.
His only challenger to head CSA was believed to have been Western Province’s Beresford Williams.
Williams is one of seven non- independent directors elected to the board, alongside Nenzani, vice-president Peter Cyster (Boland), Andy O’Connor (Easterns), Graeme Sauls (EP), Faeez Jaffar (KZN) and Rihan Richards (GW).
Five independent directors, former CSA president Norman Arendse, Wesizwe Platinum’s Dawn Mokhobo, Constitutional Court trustee Vusi Pikoli, Absa’s Louis von Zeuner and Old Mutual chief operating officer Mohamed Iqbal Khan, will make up the remainder of the new board.
After his appointment Nenzani said a major challenge would be to regain public confidence after the multi-million rand bonuses scandal which rocked CSA, causing a rift between former president Mtutuzeli Nyoka and CEO Gerald Majola.
“We will be checking our governance structure to ensure we regain public confidence. We must remember the role of the administration is to remain in the background while the players are at the forefront,” he told the media at the Wanderers Stadium.
In 2003 Nenzani was the deputy president of Border schools’ cricket and the following year was appointed chairman of unified Border schools which included primary and high schools.
In 2007 he was elected to the board of Border cricket and in 2010 he was elected Border cricket president. — gcinan@dispatch.co.za
