New chairman for Majola hearing

Johannesburg: A new chairman has been appointed for the long-delayed disciplinary hearing of suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola over issues, including irregularities in IPL II bonuses to himself and other Board staff.

Both CSA and Majola`s lawyers have welcomed the appointment of Advocate Karel Tip by the Johannesburg Bar Council to chair the hearing after Advocate John Myburgh stepped down following calls for this by Majola`s legal team because Myburgh had made a non-binding advisory award in favour of CSA even before the hearing started. Myburgh agreed and stepped down after concerns that Majola may not get a fair hearing if he continued with the process. Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula is already angered at delays in the finalisation of the hearing, which should have been concluded by the end of May this year. But a spokesman for Majola`s lawyers, Pumezo David, said they wanted to get the matter out of the way as soon as possible in the interests of both their client and CSA. Mbalula had instituted the Nicholson inquiry into the financial affairs of CSA after almost two years of internal wrangling at CSA over the bonuses, received after the second edition of the IPL was played in South Africa due to security concerns over elections at the time in India. Nicholson fingered Majola as having breached his fiduciary duties and called for both a disciplinary hearing and possible criminal charges against him. PTI