The Central Gauteng Lions (CGL) will not hold elections at their annual meeting on Thursday‚ which could bolster Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) existing power structure.

Instead of clubs choosing directors freely‚ the CGL will retain their racially composed board — which could preserve alliances at the highest level.

Chris Nenzani‚ CSA’s president since 2013‚ was to have handed over the reins at the national body’s annual meeting on September 7.

But‚ SowetanLIVE has learnt‚ CSA are apparently trying to change their constitution to enable Nenzani to serve another year.

That will keep the presidential seat warm for current CGL boss Jack Madiseng‚ who it is understood is being lined up to succeed Nenzani.

Madiseng and Nenzani are firmly on the side of Thabang Moroe‚ CSA’s all-powerful chief executive.

For the plan to succeed Madiseng would have to retain his place on CSA’s board‚ which means he would have to stay on as CGL president.

The chances of him doing so might have been lessened had Thursday’s elections not been subject to racial regulations.

But CSA have prevailed on the CGL to — before they conduct elections without restrictions — be certain that cricket in the region has been successfully transformed‚ as per the recommendations of the Langa Report that has governed the running of the game in cricket’s most racially fractious province and is timed to expire this year.

“CSA has picked up that there seems to [be] confusion or misalignment between the board and its members about these issues‚” the CGL’s outgoing chief executive‚ Greg Fredericks‚ wrote in a letter in the CGL members’ council — which has been seen by TimesLIVE — to report back on a meeting between CSA‚ at their behest‚ and the CGL board on Thursday.

CSA‚ Fredericks wrote‚ “felt that they did not want to be found wanting when asked what they did if things at CGL go pear-shaped in terms of the aims and objectives of the Langa Commission”.

So former High Court judge Bernard Ngoepe — who led CSA’s investigation into the 2016 fixing scandal — has been enlisted to “assess the extent to which CGL has achieved the objectives and goals of the Langa Report and to assist us with the contentious clauses in our MOI [memorandum of incorporation]”.

The CGL was “in full agreement with these sentiments and wants to reach the same outcomes”.

So they agreed to hold off on elections “until [Ngoepe] has completed his task‚ even if it takes one or two months”.

That‚ of course‚ would guarantee that Madiseng would remain CGL president and represent them at CSA’s annual meeting. Maybe not …

“CSA made it clear that if we work with the judge and the task is completed in two weeks‚ that would also be fine‚ but they stressed that CSA will not be involved in that process at all.”

So the CGL might yet elect a new board‚ and might do so without having to adhere to the Langa Report‚ before CSA do the same.

Regardless‚ in important senses the CGL and CSA are squarely on the same page on this matter.

“CSA made it clear that they were against the racial composition of our board and that we should not hide behind an MOI to protect seats on the board for certain racial groups‚” Fredericks wrote.

“We believe that CSA‚ as our mother body is exercising its responsibility to ensure that cricket in our province does not find itself in a similar position as before but that we all march into the future as a truly non-racial structure that only has the interest of cricket in our area of jurisdiction at heart.”