Herald
28 June 2010
By Mukanya Makwira
THE separation of politics and sport is an issue held in sanctity by the majority of sports federations the world over.
Fifa, the world soccer governing body, even discourages any displays, adverts, messages or material with political undertones. The reason for this is because of the unifying power of sport.
It is desperation, however, that drives a man to look for help from a wounded lion’s den. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard sneaked into the country last week to solicit support from Zimbabwe Cricket.
Yes, John Howard was here, in the very country he said was politically unstable that his country’s cricketers could not come to, to solicit the country’s support in his bid to land the post of president of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Zimbabwe Cricket has over the last decade endured a tumultuous period at the hands of some Western countries, who decided to cross the sport Rubicon and muddied the good game of cricket with politics, all in the name of regime change.
In the process, the sport suffered from the politics of racism as the majority of white cricketers left the country to play overseas, mainly for low division teams, in an effort to spruce up the propaganda effort of the West.
Amongst those trying to achieve political means through sport was John Howard, who ironically is trying to convince Zimbabwe to bring his rot, right into the corridors of the ICC.
Now hear this. “My personal wish is to see Zimbabwe fully reintegrated into the world cricket family and see the sport continue to grow in all parts of the world, including Zimbabwe,” said Howard. How ironic!
Cricket and world sport in general does not need the likes of Howard, lest the sport be drawn into the gutters. He, of all people, cannot talk of developing a sport, which he has done so much to destroy for political ends.
He is a wolf in sheepskin, with the sole aim of returning the sport to the dark ages where it was a preserve of the Anglo-Saxon countries and using it to settle political scores. He has nothing to offer to sport, which spreads a message of unity, against his racist thoughts.
That he came to Zimbabwe was a surprise on its own. Wasn’t he the same person who went out of his way to block his country’s cricketers from touring Zimbabwe in 2007 saying that the country was not safe?
So determined was he that his government offered to pay the US$2 million fine to ICC, in order to make sure that the tour was cancelled. So Zimbabwe is safe for him when he wants to satisfy his personal ambitions and not for his fellow countrymen? What a shame!
In a bid to free sport of all ills, virtually all sports associations have incorporated the “Kick Out Racism” campaign. It is therefore a surprise that cricket is trying to put in its highest echelons a renowned racist.
For what purpose, one might ask?
Howard has excess baggage, a point so amplified by the South Africa Cricket president Methuseli Nyoka and the majority of the directors of other cricket associations around the world.
The support from the likes of English and New Zealand cricket associations just smacks of arrogance and reveals their quest to politicise sport.
Howard was a fervent supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa. He also superintended over racist laws in Australia, which discriminated against the indigenous aborigines.
It took the man who replaced him, Kevin Rudd, to repeal the racist legislation, some of which were passed under his watch. Why is the ICC going to where other sporting disciplines are trying very hard to come from? Do they think a leopard can shed its spots? Never!
True to his racial orientation, Howard tried to clandestinely use the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, to penetrate the corridors of Zimbabwe Cricket.
Was it mere coincidence that the minister was at the airport at the same time Howard arrived? That both of them were whisked to the Australian ambassador’s residence for “dinner”, minus the cricket officials he had come to see adds further intrigue to his intentions.
Does he think that Zimbabweans have a short memory? His liberal-national coalition government was responsible for imposing the ruinous illegal sanctions, working in cahoots with the British and Americans. Today he asks for our help. What a shame! Should the country help such people? Let him fight his dirty war.
Howard’s visit now explains the “gesture” by Australian Cricket, inviting the Zimbabwean team to tour the country in 2011, for reasons, which were not clear up to now.
The cat is now out of the bag. They think that cricket bosses can be bought for two pieces of silver? What has changed now? Just because they want to use us to vote for their man they think they could give us a sweetener?
Allowing bigoted politicians to sneak into the sporting world is the worst thing that can happen to sport.
History will judge all those who assist those who want to politicise sport harshly. Posterity will not be kind to them. Such kinds of people are a nuisance to sport. They would seek to use politics to further their political agendas.