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‘Thugs and Fraudsters’

By Robson Sharuko

A SERIES of damning reports posted by the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart on his official website — which describe the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership as FRAUDSTERS, ABYSMAL THUGS AND NASTY CREATURES — has torched a severe storm and exposed the frosty relationship between the two parties.

The damaging reports, written by controversial British cricket correspondent Peter Roebuck in Australian and South African newspapers, call for the isolation of Zimbabwe Cricket from the global cricket family and slams overtures made recently by those willing to help the game to get back on its feet.

The reports — which describe ZC chairman Peter Chingoka as a snake, a chameleon and a corrupt leader — praise those who are still stuck in the trenches, prolonging their battles to topple the ZC leadership, as men of integrity and honour.

That Coltart personally posted those reports on his official website, has angered the ZC leadership, which believes that this suggests, to some extent, that their parent minister appears to agree with the contents of the stunning attack on their integrity.

There has always been a frosty relationship between the ZC leadership and Coltart, dating back to the big fallout that split the game along racial lines with the majority of white players walking out of the system, and the latest developments will certainly strain relations.

The stormy battles for the control of domestic cricket ripped the soul out of the game and almost destroyed it, before a ray of light started to filter through the dark cloud, which had been hanging over the game, and sanity began to prevail.

ZC authorities have described the reports as an insult and have questioned Coltart’s decision to use his official website as a medium to publicise such a sensational attack on them, especially against the background of a healing process currently underway in the game.

A number of high-profile people, who had rebelled against the ZC leadership at the height of the stormy boardroom battles, have been lured back into the fold to play a part in the healing process whose results have already started to be seen on the field.

Alistair Campbell is now the Convenor of Selectors, Heath Streak and Dave Houghton are back in the coaching set-up while a number of players have also returned home to play for the franchises and the national team.

That process, sadly, is now under attack from such figures like Roebuck.

Cricket Australia is warned, in the reports, about the wisdom of extending an olive branch to Chingoka because the ZC boss is a "chameleon who belongs with the vipers".

Cricket South Africa, which recently unveiled an ambitious plan to help Zimbabwe Cricket in their bid to return to Test cricket, is attacked — in the same reports — for their move to restore relations with their northern neighbour and play a part in breathing life back into local cricket.

One of the reports posted by Coltart on his website and written by Roebuck, is plucked from the Natal Witness and questions Cricket South Africa’s decision to dance with Zimbabwe Cricket yet again.

The report is a carbon copy of the one carried in the Sydney Morning Herald, but twisted to suit the interests of a South African readership.

"Cricket South Africa ought not to be in such a rush to accommodate its neighbour across the Limpopo. Camara-derie can be taken too far. Indeed, it already has been," writes Roebuck.

"CSA has prematurely invited its counterpart to take part in a forthcoming one-day triangular tournament. Certainly ZC has taken steps to brush up its image, but the rottenness remains intact — THE SAME ABYSMAL FRAUDS RUN THE SHOW, THE SAME THUGS, THE NASTY CREATIONS.

"Nothing has changed, it’s all window-dressing. As soon as the ‘unity’ government breaks up, the old poisonous attitudes will return.

"Until then, the senior officers will continue to play their pretty little games, appointing a few token whites, buttering up the Indians, keeping the credulous Australians onside.

"It’s all part of the show.

"Admittedly, Zimbabwean cricket has improved in the last few months. It could hardly get any worse. Expe-rienced selectors and coaches have been appointed.

"Moreover ZC has long had an excellent development programme and deserves credit for that. Many of those playing in Bangladesh (there were six blacks and five whites in the team) were given ZC scholarships and attended the same high school where they benefited from committed coaching."

Roebuck credits history, rather than the innovation of the ZC leadership, for that.

"Mostly it has been an accident of history. Black education was suppressed in South Africa so that young blacks attended farm or township schools that provided the most basic instruction and whose main purpose was to retain the peasantry and cheap labour," he writes.

"In contrast, in cities and rural areas alike, many Zimbabweans were sent to superb missionary schools. Cricket and learning flourished in these outstanding

establishments. In short, Zimbabwean cricket had strong foundations.

"ZC’s task since independence has been to widen the appeal of the game. It’s not been easy because the white population was deeply conservative and considerably racist.

"The farmers kept voting for the appalling Ian Smith. Progress was slow. Test cricketers cannot be microwaved. To its detriment, the white establishment did not fully grasp the urgency of the situation.

"Now ZC seeks to resume its place in the family of cricketing nations. Suddenly, Peter Chingoka, its longstanding, well-connected and wealthy ingrate, is all sweetness and light. It’s a facade.

"He is a chameleon. This same Chingoka, whose twin brother was drummed out of sport because of his corruption, can hold his tongue as previous sports ministers spew vile bilge alike to senior ICC officials and current MPs of both parties.

"Among Indians he can play the role of post-colonial champion. Among cricketers he can talk knowledgeably about the game. Among Westerners he can present himself as a civilised man trying to keep the game going in twisted times.

"Among businessmen he can talk about his overseas properties and investments in mining companies. Among whiskey drinkers he can discuss the merits of his beloved Black Label. He is nasty and plausible."

Roebuck then drags the other members of the ZC leadership into his controversial piece and claims the changes, taking place in domestic cricket, are because Chingoka, and his administration, are afraid of Coltart.

"Chingoka, his loathsome allies Ozias Bvute and Givemore Makoni, who has trashed buses on tour and shouted insults at Australian players, have changed their strategy because Zimbabwe has changed," writes Roebuck.

"They fear the scrutiny of an astute, fearless cricketing sports minister. For now, David Coltart has his hands full with education. Eventually he will inspect ZC and its books.

"By then, Chingoka will have changed again, into a charming character. More likely, Zimbabwe will collapse as the wickedness continues. And then CSA might rue its decision to renew close contact with the unapologetic representatives of a foul regime."

Roebuck also wrote a similar article, in the Sydney Morning Herald, which was just changed to suit the interests of the Australian public.

That article was also posted, on Coltart’s official website, by the minister.

"Cricket Australia has found itself in the unenviable position of drawing high praise from Peter Chingoka, the longstanding and wealthy chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC)," reads the report.

"It’s a bit like being kissed by a snake.

"Interviewed last week, Chingoka described relations between the boards as ‘fantastic’ and seemed to regard various CA chairmen as bosom pals.

"CA ought to ponder upon his motives and pray quietly for his removal. Chingoka is a consummate political operator but he belongs with the vipers. At least the Australian Government knows the score.

"To his immense chagrin, Chingoka is banned from travelling to this country."

Roebuck claims the ZC leadership is desperate to present Zimbabwean cricket in a better light because the country itself has changed.

"To that end, they have appointed former players as coaches and selectors. It has not been an overnight conversion. They fear the scrutiny of an astute, fearless and cricketing minister of sport taken from the main opposition party," writes Roebuck.

"For now, David Coltart has his hands full with education, his main portfolio. Eventually, he will examine the cricket board, and then will come the day of reckoning.

"Then Cricket South Africa might regret its rush to renew close relations with the unapologetic representatives of a foul regime. Chingoka has the gall to describe himself as merely a ‘cricketing man’, an innocent put among thieves."

Roebuck concedes that Zimbabwe Cricket has been changing but, being the hardliner that he is, questions the transition and still calls for the isolation of the country from the global cricket family.

"Admittedly Zimbabwe Cricket has taken steps to change its hard-line reputation. Not least to justify the millions of dollars put in its coffers every year, Zimbabwe has held out olive branches to previously hostile former players," reads his report.

"Alistair Campbell has been appointed chief selector, Andy Waller and David Houghton are also assisting. Unsurprisingly though, numerous men of calibre, black and white, will not return to ZC until the regime has changed.

"Until that happens, Zimbabwe ought to remain a pariah. Of late it has played a five-match ODI series in Bangladesh (losing 4-1) and is now playing another series with South Africa.

"The ICC did not need much persuasion to welcome ZC back into the fold. It likes to pick and choose its tyrannies. Recently the game’s governing body sent a small group headed by Sir Julian Hunte, president of the West Indies Cricket Board, to report on ZC’s progress.

"Inevitably, he assumed cricket could be isolated from the evil. ZC has not changed in any significant degree.

"So far, CA’s assistance has been limited to inviting young cricketers to its Centre of Excellence and allowing Walter Chawaguta, Zimbabwe’s enthusiastic but inexperienced coach, to join the team in Saudi Arabia.

"Anything further will bring opprobrium on Australia’s head."

l Who is PETER ROEBUCK? Tomorrow we will carry a report on the controversial international cricket correspondent, who now lives in Petermaritzburg in South Africa and in Sydney, Australia. The controversy he torched in 1986 when, as Somerset captain, he vetoed the extension of the contracts of West Indies legends Viv Richards and Joel Garner. The storm that his criticism of Aussie captain Ricky Ponting created last year and, of course, that suspended two-year jail term for the punishment he persistently inflicted by whipping the buttocks of three teenage cricketers in his care.