Gauteng cricket chairman resigns over B-word

Mtutuzeli Nyoka, the embattled Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) chairman, resigned on Tuesday.

His letter of resignation was collected on Tuesday morning by the current GCB Chief Executive Officer, Thabo Moseki, and came into effect immediately.

Mohammed Jajhbay, the current vice-chairman, will take over the role of chairman until the GCB's annual general meeting in either July or August.

Nyoka found himself in the unenviable position of being the subject of an unprecedented show of unity by 10 provincial presidents last week, all of whom took him to task for referring to a press release by the United Cricket Board's CEO, Gerald Majola, as "buffoonery".

The provincial presidents further accused Nyoka of absenting himself from a crucial UCB meeting which involved the discussion of possible amendments to the UCB constitution. Nyoka has defended himself from this allegation by saying that the UCB president, Percy Sonn, was fully aware that this would be the case, and added that the proposed constitutional amendments would be circulated to the provinces before being ratified on April 27.

Since the release of their press statement, signed by the ten provincial presidents (Gauteng's president, Joe Pamensky, was not a signatory to the letter), the UCB have sent a letter to the Gauteng board asking whether Nyoka's comments were his own or those of his union.

Along with using the B-word, Nyoka has come out strongly on the hoary subject of transformation, saying that he didn't believe that it was the success that many believe it had been.

Nyoka is no stranger to controversy. Last year he mounted a challenge to Sonn's presidency at the UCB annual general meeting and he was one of the movers behind a statement released by the GCB approximately a month ago to the effect that a commission should be instituted by the UCB in the wake of matters arising from the Daryll Cullinan affair. The call for a commission was subsequently squashed on the other side of Corlett Drive, with the then UCB acting president, Robbie Kurz, taking issue with Gauteng's handling of the matter. - Sapa