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Cape Town - The failed T20 Global League has left Ajay Sethi, the owner of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, threatening legal action against Cricket South Africa (CSA).
South Africa's answer to India's IPL and Australia's Big Bash was due to get underway in November, 2017 put was canned due to a reported lack of a broadcast deal.
With the eight franchise owners secured and the player draft already complete, CSA was left reeling after the decision, settling with players and administrators who had signed on for the tournament.
The mess ultimately cost then-CEO Haroon Lorgat his job, and since then acting CEO Thabang Moroe and his CSA colleagues have been weighing up their options over the possibility of going ahead with the tournament in 2018.
Then, earlier this month, it was announced that CSA and SuperSport had joined forced to form a new company - Newco - that has committed to going ahead.
The name of the tournament will change while the format is yet to be confirmed and, it seems, the owners could change too.
That is where the latest mess comes in.
According to Cricinfo, Sethi has threatened to take legal action against CSA if Dubai's Channel Two is ousted as a franchise owner.
Sethi maintains that although CSA has paid the Stars their original deposit of a reported $250 000, they cannot take away the rights of the owners.
"We were very happy that the SuperSport deal was the way forward for all of us, but it was shocking to hear that CSA had another agenda by putting owners out of the league," Sethi said via a Stars statement.
"CSA seems to have a different plan to remove the owners and then do the media deal.
"This is totally unethical and no federation will do that in any part of the world."
On Wednesday, CSA replied publicly to Sethi's grievances.
"CSA does not intend to debate the matter through the media and as per our last letter to the owners remain available to any party who wishes to engage in the current process of planning the tournament," a statement read.
"CSA indicated from the offset that the key revenue streams must first be secured regarding broadcasting rights and potential sponsors before detail of the tournament can be finalised.
"Once that has taken place, engagement with other stakeholders will be possible."
The new tournament is expected to take place in December this year.
