By Eshlin Vedan 
Aug 11, 2021
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DURBAN – Former Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief commercial officer and acting chief executive Kugandrie Govender believes that she was not afforded fair treatment during her time as chief executive of the federation.
Last month, CSA announced that they had parted with Govender who served as the chief executive last year. She had initially been issued a notice of suspension in December after former secretary Welsh Gwaza was also suspended by the interim board.
“It was clear to me from the way that certain members of the interim board treated me versus others that I was not their personal choice. What was wrong with me? Wrong race, wrong gender, not nearly enough politicking prowess? Looking back, I sometimes wonder about my naively accepting the pursued position. Despite making it clear that I would not be applying for the permanent CEO role, the target on my back was painted in neon,” said Govender.
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Govender intends to follow steps available through CSA’s disciplinary code and the country’s labour legislation to clear her name.
Govender was under scrutiny following controversy involving the revocation of certain cricket journalists’ media accreditation in 2019, while others accused her of being implicit in the alleged misconduct of former CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe.
“The Fundudzi Forensic Report reported that qualified forensic auditors found no proof of my involvement in the revocation of the media accreditation. I was not involved and any contrivance to the opposite by anyone with ulterior motives will simply not make it true.
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“As Mr Maroe’s subordinate, I had limited knowledge of his actions and obviously as much control over them as any subordinate has over their superior – very limited to none. He was the CEO, I respected him and his position. If there was any misconduct on his part, I have never seen his charge sheet, then I was not aware of it in the eight months I worked under him before he was suspended,” said Govender.
After being appointed to CSA in 2019, Govender said she had hoped to improve the state of women’s cricket in South Africa, but believes there are still forces within the embattled organisation that are hindering the creation of an equal playing field along racial and gender lines.
“I did not anticipate the incredibly low glass ceiling for women in this sport in South Africa. I am still hopeful that the new board of CSA, despite being 13/14 male directors, will rectify gender injustices done at the hands of those who clearly believe cricket should be run by men,” she said.
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Allegations of racism within South African cricket have emerged in recent years and players recently testified to this at the CSA Social Justice and Nation-building (SJN) hearings. Govender intimated that she was not surprised by the revelations at the hearings.
“I thought that what I had experienced as a black female administrator was restricted to the boardroom. From the testimonies, it appears that racism and sexism allegedly extended to the field. I have sobbed openly during these SJN hearings. Allegations or not, these are the lived experiences of people and it has been soul crushing to listen to. So, am I surprised at the level of discrimination? If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said yes. Today I am not surprised,” she said.
Some detractors of the SJN hearings have questioned the credentials of the players testifying, something that Govender believes is unfair as it is as though they have to “justify their existence”.
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She also believes that those with good track records will find it hard to change the minds of detractors due to preconceived notions.
“It’s always difficult to speak about one’s own accomplishments. It’s something we have seen black cricketers testify in the SJN hearing over and over again. Just like when they prefaced their testimonies with their wicket haul and run records, I too can list the millions of dollars I signed in broadcast and sponsorship deals for CSA during lockdown conditions. I can talk about the 100-hour work weeks that I dedicated to CSA at the expense of my family but it will not be enough for those people who have preconceived notions based on headlines.
“It will not be enough to insist that holding a privileged bat trumps business qualifications and corporate experience to fill a corporate job at CSA. It will not be enough for those people who believe that these positions should be filled by men or for those who equate black with incompetence,” said Govender.