The Zimbabwe crisis

Lies, racism and the ZCU

Martin Williamson

April 19, 2004

Peter Chingoka: has become little more than a powerless figurehead © Getty Images

The actions of the ZCU following the sacking of Heath Streak as captain bear all the hallmarks of the way that Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party runs the country. Bullying, rewriting of the facts (usually courtesy of the Daily Herald, its discredited mouthpiece) and scattergun accusations of racist plots to bring down the government/board.

Hogg's attempts to broker deals with the rebels had the rug pulled from under them when his offer to allow them to miss the last round of Logan Cup matches was overruled by Ozias Bvute, a board member with no authority to do so. But his power comes from on high.

And the increasingly impotent Chingoka has fallen right in line with the new powers behind the throne. Last week he used the Herald to claim that the rebels were all part of a plot to "destroy Zimbabwean cricket". He explained that the group included players, parents of players, and future players, and that it was a response to what Chingoka said was a perception that the game had been hijacked by blacks.

For their part, the rebels dismiss the allegations, countering that it is the ZCU which stands accused of racial and ethnic discrimination in the selection of the national team. They also claim that the ZCU is now acting as a tool for Mugabe, and that anyone who opposes the party line - black or white - is being victimised. And in Zimbabwe, opposition often ends up with imprisonment, and far worse.

Yesterday's Observer carried a report from a black Zimbabwean journalist - Mehluli Sibanda - who explained what happened when he wrote an article accusing the selectors of favouring players from two clubs. "Since that article came out I have been receiving threatening calls on my mobile from a ZCU board member and I am convinced that he is making these threats on behalf of some people. He threatened me with unspecified action and also threatened to report me to the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the office of the president and cabinet, Jonathan Moyo, that I am siding with a white man."

Bvute has been widely reported as someone who takes direct orders from Moyo, and he and Max Ebrahim, one of the selectors, are in the vanguard of the decision to escalate the racial cleansing of the national side. Henry Olonga, who fled Zimbabwe after the World Cup last year, said that he knew where Bvute and Ebrahim stood because of the way they "used to talk about white people".

Olonga, also writing in The Observer, added: "The players are right when they claim that there has been 'racial and ethnic discrimination in the selection of the national team'. Any reasonable person will realise that they have been targeted because they are white. Racism cuts both ways."

The ZCU no longer acts in the best interests of cricket in Zimbabwe, but is merely a tool of a corrupt and disgraced government. As with most aspects of life under Mugabe, increased interference has led to increased inefficiency, and widespread corruption, and will probably result in the disintegration of the game.

What is happening in Zimbabwe under the feeble pretence of acting against plots and plotters is in every way as indefensible as actions under South Africa's old apartheid regime. White racism and black racism are equally abhorrent.

What is certain is that the International Cricket Council can no longer take a convenient back seat and pretend that all is well. Too many accusations have been made by both sides, and while it might be seen by many as a little local difficulty, for the sake of the game globally, the ICC has to look into what is happening before it is too late and cricket's flickering light is snuffed out in Zimbabwe.

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