The Times
8 July 2010
By Mike Atherton
Some years ago, when his ambitions extended beyond the Presidency of the International Cricket Council, the former Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, referred to Robert Mugabe, in unusually blunt, non-diplomatic terms, as a ‘grubby dictator.’ Later, he banned the Australian cricket team from playing in Zimbabwe.
In the late summer of 2007, Andy Flower, then England’s assistant coach with no overt ambitions for the top job, was asked about Zimbabwe’s position within the international cricket community, and more specifically about the men running Zimbabwe Cricket. Sitting on the steps of the Oval that day, Flower was unequivocal: ‘Peter Chingoka [ZC’s chairman] is part of Mugabe’s despicable plan and the fact that he is allowed to prance around the ICC committee is embarrassing,’ he said.
Yet last week, Howard flew to Harare to talk to those still running cricket there, and Flower gave a considered and articulate presentation to the MCC World Cricket Committee during which he encouraged a reappraisal of the boycott of Zimbabwe. The actions of the first man can be swiftly dismissed- politicians will do anything for votes, and Howard needed Zimbabwe’s support for his failed bid for the Presidency of the ICC- the words of the second, less so.
By wearing a black armband at the 2003 World Cup, Flower made a stand against the situation in his homeland that resulted in the premature end to his international career and the relocation of his family. Until recently, he has remained a consistent critic of those running cricket in Zimbabwe and he cannot, like Howard, be criticised on the grounds of self-interest.
So what has changed? Superficially, much has. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is in a power-sharing arrangement with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. The economy has stabilised, is now dollar denominated and hyperinflation is a thing of the past. In cricket, accounts have been produced and independently verified, the team has won matches recently with an eleven chosen strictly on merit and good people, such as Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwean batsman, have returned to get involved and bring credibility. A newly-created franchise system offers hope for a competitive future.
Yet nobody would be foolish enough to argue that the serpents have vanished what was previously Africa’s Garden of Eden. Mugabe remains firmly in control. Torture, murder, repression, starvation and corruption are still rife. Only this month, Amnesty International said: ‘we remain concerned about persistent abuse of the law against perceived opponents of the former Zanu-PF government,’ urging ‘the unity government to end all malicious persecutions of people exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.’ They added that the Attorney General’s office has been left to ‘freely violate human rights in pursuit of a political agenda.’
Last month a documentary called ‘Mugabe and the White African’, highlighting the struggle of a white farmer’s family to hold onto its land, was released to much acclaim. It was an appropriate moment, because as the world’s eyes and ears were on another sporting event in Africa, Mugabe embarked upon another round of land grabbing. Hillary Clinton commented on June 15th that the ruling clique within Zanu-PF ‘continue to benefit from the diamond trade and benefit from corruption to a very significant degree.’
And the links between cricket and Zanu-PF remain strong. Ozias Bvute, the man who kicked Henry Olonga off the team bus during his protest with Flower and whose bullying, unpleasant and racially-motivated policies became such a feature of Zimbabwe Cricket, is still the Managing Director. Chingoka remains as Chairman. Their political links to Zanu-PF are well known, hence their inability to travel to places such as the United Kingdom and Australia, and hence the ICC’s need to relocate meetings to non-cricketing destinations such as Singapore. And if no-one has yet been able to prove any corruption, it has been widely suspected and they retain little or no credibility within the cricketing fraternity.
Despite these problems, the time has come to listen to those in Zimbabwe, those whose lives have been affected and those who have had the guts to stand their ground. David Coltart, a human rights lawyer, MDC politician and now Minister for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, is one; David Ellman-Brown, a life President of ZC and a qualified chartered accountant, is another and this week I spoke to both as they argued the case for Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket.
First Coltart: ‘It has been very difficult for us in the human rights community because we came to a position that unless we reached an agreement [with Zanu-PF], Zimbabwe could become another Liberia or Somalia. The agreement provided a non-violent evolutionary means of achieving a transition to democracy. Inevitably that meant that some of our goals of holding people to account for terrible crimes committed will not be achieved. It was a choice for a better future.’
So with politics, so with cricket. ‘Things are not perfect. Chingoka and Bvute are still running the game, although whatever their failings, their sins are not at the same level as Mugabe’s. But we are making progress. I’d say we are at a similar stage that South Africa was at in the early 90s before Mandela’s release. Transition was by no means certain then, either, but sport had a big role to play.’
‘The Howard issue was unfortunate, but they [ZC] publicly abstained rather than voted against him. India was running that show and I don’t think Zimbabwe’s future should be decided by Howard’s failure to get nominated. The cricket team is certainly improving, good people are involved again and all those developments have flowed from the improvements in the political situation.’
But what of the ICC funds that went missing and the KPMG report into the ‘financial irregularities’ that precipitated Malcolm Speed’s resignation? Ellman-Brown has gone through the report and insists that there is no evidence to finger either Chingoka or Bvute. ‘There were certainly weak areas of financial control and exchange control irregularities but you have to remember that they were trying to run a business in a hyperinflationary environment. Because of hyperinflation, those accounts were meaningless. There were certainly grey areas but nothing that you could substantiate as incriminating. There is much more transparency now.’ Why then have the ICC not released the report? ‘You’ll have to ask them that.’
Ellman-Brown favours a return to Test cricket against the weaker teams initially, such as Bangladesh and West Indies. This gradual repositioning would help strengthen Zimbabwe Cricket for the inevitable, long-awaited moment when Mugabe steps down or dies. It is inconceivable that the British government would sanction a return of the England team until that moment but Coltart argues that involvement with Zimbabwe now would encourage the moderates within Zanu-PF so when that moment comes it is they rather than the hard-liners who have the upper hand.
Principles or pragmatism? It is easy to be principled from thousands of miles away; easy to feel indignant on behalf of others. For those on the ground, those who have been through the worst of times, the only thing that matters is the future. Coltart himself has been threatened with imprisonment, survived an assassination order and seen numerous clients disappear for good. If he can put aside rancour, it should be easy enough for the rest of us.
‘One cannot live in the past,’ he says, ‘You have to move on. As in South Africa, cricket can play a role in helping a peaceful means to transition and a better future. It is one of the few things we have got.’
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