Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani has confirmed the correct procedures were followed to appoint Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher towards the end of last year.
The former Proteas skipper took over the role as new director of cricket – on an interim basis at first – and was given the responsibility to appoint a new permanent head coach of the national side.
Speaking to Sport24 on Friday, Nenzani said a lengthy interview process was followed by CSA and its board members, which led to the appointment of Smith.
‘There’s a false perception that these appointments happened at the same time but they didn’t,’ Nenzani said.
‘The appointments he [Smith] made were endorsed by the board. If you look at the urgency of the situation at the time, we needed to have a management team in place. And we wanted to give the director of cricket a handle on that appointment.
‘We needed a coach for the summer series against England, which we did [appointed Boucher], and that was endorsed by the board.’
The specific appointments of Smith and Boucher were thrust into the spotlight recently after a group of 40 former black players and senior coaches publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement, with specific focus on racial issues within the CSA structures.
Nenzani met with these players and coaches last Sunday to discuss the way forward amid allegations that the correct corporate governance process wasn’t followed when Smith and Boucher was appointed.
