The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) has called on Cricket South Africa to launch an independent investigation into the Mzansi Super League 2018 dispute that has resulted in the suspension of three senior CSA staff members, including interim director of cricket Corrie van Zyl.

In a statement issued on Thursday morning, SACA said it was "very surprised" that the three had been suspended, as their own dealings with them had been co-operative. The player body called it "highly unlikely" that CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe would have been unaware of the payment obligations, and said that Moroe had signed the players' commercial rights agreement in November last year. SACA had launched a formal dispute over unpaid commercial rights fees, alleging that CSA had breached an agreement to pay money for use of the players' commercial rights, which includes their images, for the inaugural edition of the MSL.

"We are very surprised that Naasei Appiah, Corrie van Zyl and Clive Eksteen have been suspended in relation to allegations surrounding CSA's non-compliance with the 2018 MSL commercial agreement," Tony Irish, the SACA CEO, said. "SACA didn't deal with Appiah on this issue and in its dealings with Van Zyl and Eksteen over many months they both expressed a strong desire to resolve the payment issue, but it eventually became clear that higher approval to do so was necessary.

"We think it's highly unlikely that CSA's chief executive, Thabang Moroe, would not have been aware of this ongoing issue. He was undoubtedly aware of payment obligations as he had signed the agreement."

If correct, SACA's claims could make life easier for the suspended trio, while pointing the finger at Moroe, with whom they have long had a strained relationship.

In the statement, SACA released a detailed timeline explaining its side as far as the process to have the players' commercial rights fees paid is concerned, including the correspondence it had with CSA staff.

The SACA version of events between October 14 and October 29 is as follows:

October 14: SACA referenced the breach of the 2018 MSL commercial agreement in correspondence sent, inter alia, to Moroe. SACA received no response to this.

October 16: SACA sent a mail to Eksteen, copied to Moroe, stating that if not urgently resolved, SACA would have no alternative but to proceed with a formal notice of dispute relating to the 2018 MSL agreement and also recording that CSA had yet to sign a 2019 MSL commercial agreement to secure the use of player commercial rights for the 2019 MSL.

October 17: Eksteen indicated that CSA was now prepared to resolve the matter. On the same day, SACA sent the necessary settlement agreements to CSA with a deadline to sign by October 21, 2019. This deadline was simply ignored and no response was received.

October 23: SACA gave notice of a formal dispute relating to the 2018 MSL agreement and CSA's failure to make agreed payments.

October 29: The matter was eventually settled and a 2019 MSL commercial agreement was eventually signed. Players were due to do commercial activations to promote the 2019 MSL on 30 October 2019.

While the matter has now been resolved and the monies have been paid, the suspension of the three employees amid allegations of dereliction of duty has prompted SACA to question what it calls a "wide systemic attempt" by CSA to marginalise the player body in the Moroe era.

SACA cited disputes dating back to 2018, when negotiations between CSA and SACA over the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which governs the players' employment contract, dragged on for so long that a new MoU was signed three months after the previous one expired. It also mentioned CSA's failure to engage with SACA on matters relating to the proposed domestic restructure, over which SACA took CSA to court.

Since April this year, SACA has been barred from attending CSA sub-committee meetings, including of the finance and commercial committees, the chief executive's committee, and the cricket committee, which SACA claims is in breach of CSA's own terms of reference.

SACA says it has sought to resolve its issues with CSA on numerous occasions, most recently on August 24 this year, when the parties met to discuss the domestic restructure and SACA's concerns over CSA's finances.

"At the meeting, it was agreed firstly that CSA would conduct an external review of its longer-term financial position and secondly that SACA and CSA would put in place a roadmap and facilitation process to attempt to resolve the relationship issue and the domestic restructure issue by the end of October 2019," the SACA statement read. "As was also agreed, and to ensure the process was committed to in writing, SACA sent a draft roadmap agreement to CSA on 26 August 2019.

"Despite requests made by SACA to CSA for it to respond CSA failed to do so for seven weeks thus rendering the attempted roadmap and facilitation process unworkable and ineffectual. CSA has also failed to act on the agreement to conduct an external review of its finances."

More to follow…