Gerald Majola took his opportunity before Judge Chris Nicholson to slam his accusers, claim ignorance about the Companies Act, apportion blame to others and explain the emotional toll the past 18 months had taken on his family.
Where it leaves the game and the organisation that is Cricket South Africa will only become clear in the next few weeks as Judge Nicholson works his way through a mountain of evidence that points towards a dysfunctional organisation.
Judge Nicholson has been tasked by the Sports Ministry to look into CSA’s administration and the payment of bonuses to senior staff including chief executive Majola. He is expected to make his findings in the new year.
Yesterday the man who has been at the centre of the controversy over supposedly illegitimately paid bonuses and travel expenses claimed he didn’t know the finer details of Section 234 of the Companies Act, that required him to disclose details of bonus payments made to him to Cricket SA’s remuneration committee.
As part of his defence, Majola claimed that such disclosure hadn’t been made in the case of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, when its tournament director, Ali Bacher, received R5 million, according to Majola, and for the 2007 ICC T20 world championship when Steve Elworthy was the tournament director. Majola explained that Elworthy told CSA’s board of directors about the methods of payments made for that event.
“We don’t know who decided Bacher’s bonus,” Majola said in defence of the bonuses he received totalling nearly R1.8m for CSA’s hosting of the Indian Premier League and the Champions Trophy in 2009.
When it came to how he was paid his bonus for his part in the IPL and Champions Trophy, Majola said he was guided by former chief operations officer Don McIntosh, who was the tournament director for the Champions Trophy and a “go-between” for the IPL.
“The tournament director is more senior when it comes to that (bonuses) and depending on work done he uses a ‘multiples’ guide,” said Majola.
McIntosh told the committee last week that “essentially the buck stops with Gerald” and that he outlined how he dealt “with Gerald as my superior from a performance bonus point of view, from an event bonus point of view; in terms of disclosure I disclosed everything to Gerald”.
While Majola held McIntosh responsible for deciding on the bonuses for the Champions Trophy, because he was the event’s director, Majola claimed he spoke to the IPL about payments for CSA’s staff at a meeting in London in June 2009.
An agitated Majola battled to point out that the bonuses weren’t the only item on the agenda of the London meeting, a point Judge Nicholson told him he’d noted before reminding Majola about the terms of reference of his inquiry. Majola said: “(The bonus issue) was one small item of the meeting.”
Majola explained that he went to the meeting because he had signed the contract with the IPL after the Board of Control for Cricket in India had inquired as to whether SA could help them host the event. He claimed the bonuses came from the IPL and were determined by McIntosh. “He followed the ‘multiples’ guide which was the principle from 2007. The IPL authorised the payments.”
Quizzed about a letter he wrote to McIntosh on July 16, 2009, in which he said: “We have managed to negotiate with the IPL to pay you a special discretionary bonus for your contribution” to the IP, Majola said he could not recall writing the letter.
Majola accepted that he should have disclosed the bonus payments to CSA’s remuneration committee.
“(At the time) I was totally convinced that I had disclosed the payments properly. I was later informed I should have done so in terms of Section 234 (of the Companies Act). I concede I should have done so in terms of the act. I didn’t know (the details) of 234. I have legal people here with me and they didn’t know,” Majola told the media later.
Asked if he felt he should resign as CEO, he said: “I don’t think I should. I will stay as CEO as long as the board wants me to.”
He denied having a friendship with former CSA president Mtutuzeli Nyoka.
“We grew up in the same neighbourhood, but we weren’t friends. This process has not been easy, not just for me, but my entire family,” Majola said, wiping away tears.