South Africa is in danger of being banned from international cricket after its government said on Wednesday that it intended to intervene in the affairs of the sport's national body following revelations of serious misconduct by senior officials.
The statement from sports minister Nathi Mthethwa said he had informed the International Cricket Council of the intended action. The ICC's constitution forbids government interference and the punishment is normally a ban from international games for the country's teams until the national cricket body is operating independently again.
The tension between the South African government and Cricket South Africa (CSA) relates to a long-running investigation into the affairs of the cricket body, which resulted in the firing of CEO Thabang Moroe for serious misconduct in August.
CSA has refused to release in full a report by independent investigators and has also resisted an attempt by the government-aligned South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee to conduct its own investigation into the misconduct allegations.
Mthethwa has given cricket officials until 27th October to set out why he shouldn't intervene.