REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

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kudet
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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by kudet »

https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/1 ... we-cricket
If you found yourself meeting the sad news of Peter Chingoka's death on Thursday (August 22) with a shrug of indifference, you are obviously not a fan of Zimbabwe cricket. It is now five years since Chingoka stepped down as Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, but few have left office trailing such a strong and divided set of opinions and emotions behind them.

For some, Chingoka was the man who gave Zimbabwe everything it had; a critical force for both attaining Test status and transforming the game. For others, he was the administrator responsible for wrecking it. Given the current tendency towards short-termism, surveys on Chingoka's legacy would probably find the latter opinion in greater numbers.

What is not up for debate is that Chingoka was the man who embodied the state of cricket in Zimbabwe.

As an allrounder in the 1970s, before Zimbabwe gained independence, he was the able black cricketer who was only granted access to a white game through his family's middle-class standing. In the early 1990s he was the educated black administrator - from a family of administrators; his brother headed Zimbabwe Tennis and Zimbabwe Olympic Committee - brought in as the then-Zimbabwe Cricket Union started looking to the future of the game. Along with chairman Dave Ellman-Brown he pitched Zimbabwe's case for Test status to the ICC in 1992 and played a part in that success. As the decade wore on, his rise in status echoed that of Zimbabwe's team in the world game.

This was an age when sports administration was still largely an amateur undertaking, so his initial involvement was for nothing other than the love of the game. Most administrators held down full time jobs elsewhere - Ellman-Brown was a senior partner in an establish accounting firm - but not everyone was so privileged. A former player and administrator told me once that when Chingoka traveled to ICC meetings in the 1990s he sometimes slept in the car so that he could save his hotel allowance. The story underlines the challenges of the time but also some attitudes towards Chingoka - the point of telling it was an attempt to paint Chingoka as coming from a poor background, and only interested in cricket as a vehicle for enrichment.

This accusation followed Chingoka through the latter part of his 22 years in office. If Zimbabwe and Chingoka were feted in the first half of his tenure, in the second they were pariahs. While Zimbabwe became an increasingly faint presence in international cricket, often felt only as the elephant in the room, Chingoka's ties with Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF were seen as sufficiently strong for him to be placed on the sanctions list. This included a travel ban, which at one point caused the ICC to move a meeting out of the United Kingdom so that he could attend.

The pivotal moments came in the early 2000s when Ellman-Brown had moved on and Chingoka, as chairman of the board, was the main driver of the game. His role in its downfall will vary according to who you speak to, and will be defined, often literally, in black and white. Opinions rarely offer a shade of grey.

In the pivotal years between 2003 and 2005, as racial tension bubbled up and then boiled over in the rebel saga, Chingoka's grip slipped as fiery administrators with bold agendas came onto the scene.

"People can criticise Peter but as far as I'm concerned, he was a really hard-working chairman who wanted to do the right thing for cricket," Vince Hogg, who was the managing director at the time of the rebel saga, told me in 2013. "He was under unbelievable pressure because he was black and he was seen as trying to promote the white side of things. Ozias Bvute, in my opinion, was not a balanced guy. Ozias was much more radical, wanting change quicker, and didn't mind hurting cricket."

That sense of Chingoka bowing to stronger characters was mirrored by former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed in his autobiography, where he wrote of a fond friendship with Chingoka prior to 2004, but felt a fracturing of that connection - and Chingoka's power within Zimbabwe cricket - as the rebel saga wore on.

But if Chingoka's actions, or lack thereof, during the defining period of Zimbabwe cricket could not necessarily be pinned on selfishness, in the final years he was a deeply compromised man. Invited onto the board of Metbank - an institution owned largely by Bvute's uncle but run by Bvute himself - Chingoka accepted. When ZC racked up debt with Metbank between 2009 and 2012 to the tune of millions of dollars, at crippling interest rates, there was a clear conflict of interests. Chingoka rarely appeared before the media in a formal setting but when he made himself available during India's visit in 2013, I asked him about it. The tone of reply was hostile.

"Do me a favour," he began. "Find me a bank which wants to take over, and even without the chairman's authority I will sign ZC loan accounts over to the next bank. There is no conflict. There would be a conflict immediately if, for example, ZC were an investor or a depositor and Metbank is getting the benefits of the interest from deposits. The idea of thinking there's a conflict can only come from mischief."

Yet within a year the idea that Zimbabwe cricket was benefiting from this crossover of administrators was proven to be false. It turned out that when the ICC learned of the loans, they wondered why ZC would have taken them up on such unfavourable terms rather than applying for an ICC loan at minimal interest rates. ZC then took out a $6m loan from the ICC to pay back some of the high-interest debt to the banks. But instead of immediately using the money to retire part of the loans, as the ICC's terms insisted, ZC instead put the money in an interest-free account with Metbank. This ensured that the bank was benefiting twice - by continuing to charge ZC exorbitant interest on its existing loans, as well as having the $6m at its disposal in an economic environment where real money was scarce.

While this was the only proven case of mismanagement, strong suspicions remained that it was one of many. After ZC set up a new franchise system in 2009/10, millions of dollars were flung at the enterprise without any concern for the future. Bank statements from some of the franchises have subsequently emerged that pose plenty of questions about where the money was going. Although some franchise heads were quietly relieved of their positions after the first year or two, there was no real accountability. And as ZC chairman, Chingoka was ultimately responsibility.

When he finally stepped down in 2014, the ZC media release said simply that Chingoka's parting was based on a succession plan. That contradicted what he said in 2013 when he was asked about retirement, but gave no indication that it was forthcoming. "I've always said one of my dreams is to be sitting in takkies, shorts and a t-shirt where the fun is. But if there's a job to be done, I'll do it. I'd love to be sitting with my wife and enjoying the game."

The truth is that the ICC had rejected a ZC bailout plan earlier in 2014 - largely because of a lack of trust in the leadership. As part of the bailout, the ICC wanted the right to change some of ZC's administration and insert an independent administrator. ZC, or essentially Chingoka, refused.

As it turned out, there was very little cricket for him to enjoy in Zimbabwe after his retirement. He was awarded an honorary life presidency but was rarely seen at the games Zimbabwe did play. When he passed away this week, cricket in Zimbabwe - forever in alignment with its longest serving administrator - was barely registering a pulse.

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gargamel
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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by gargamel »

I had the opportunity to sit and have a few drinks with the late Mr Chingoka last year during the qualifiers and it changed my perception on him on certain matters. He is indeed a true comrade of black Zimbabwean cricket after he walked me through the various challenges that he faced to his rise to leadership in Zimbabwe. There is no denying our past history that is marred by discrimination and holding back the development of the promising black talent. He was adamant that the cause of the black cricketer and his rise black administrators had to happen. He acknowledged that the rebel saga and the dark days of voluntary suspension from the ICC were not goo times but he took a stance that was necessary to move the game from a minority to what it is today. He took pride in black crop that emerged and only wished that they could have had guidance in their development with some of the rebels and he acknowledged that the promise shown by Tiba , Hammy and Chigs was something that was eventually lost due to lack of a firm hand to guide them and challenge them to their early potential. He lamented the complacency when players established themselves and their failure to kick on and work even harder than before. As for the jokes shared about how we were screwed over by MetBank the old man simply lauhed it off but i guess they were the only ally in difficult times but also the fact that certain entities were targeted by government as forex earners similar to Cottco, and some mines but the amount of pressure assiciated with a National body as well as a lucrative one he got tiered and thus let the show be run by others.

I guess in his old state and frail state i felt sad for him but a very enlightnening evening with him a certainly conflicted and at times compromised man but a comrade non the less.

RIP Peter
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eugene
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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by eugene »

Chingoka took a strong stance to move the game to where it is today?! And where is that? Dead?
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes

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gargamel
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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by gargamel »

A stance had to be taken let this be known that he took the game to the masses yes we fucked up but no change or revolution is easy. But to say that from a view of previllage offends me and my race. As successful as the legends of 99 and rebels change was inevitable and had to happen. I acknowledge that it was a mess and we are still deep in the rubble but i have hope things will be better and even mor so with the contribution made by Comrade Chingoka
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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by Googly »

Well in truth he didn’t really take it to the masses. Less people play cricket now than they did last century and there’s 10 million more people in the country, that would indicate he killed it stone dead. What he did do is give players not equipped for international cricket the opportunity to prove just that. If that’s his legacy then it’s a poor one. Perhaps he did start out with good intentions, but the lure of the dollar got to him.
It’s not dissimilar to Mr Mugabe, he also had some good intentions from the outset and when he departs for the next world he will also be fondly remembered by many.

This white privilege thing is such a load of bullshit as well.
There was some for sure, but all I mostly saw was a hard working community that built a country from nothing. I’ve subsequently seen more than three decades of the most extreme black selfish destructive privilege that has caused nothing but the death of a once beautiful nation, so much so that the blacks themselves are the biggest emigrants. The racism inflicted upon your community has been returned tenfold, we’ve had everything taken from us, and it doesn’t even exist anymore, there’s barely any tangible evidence of what’s been taken, it’s been turned to ashes.

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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by Googly »

And Peter’s brother did to tennis what Peter did to cricket. They weren’t really there to build anything, their appointments were to dismantle the past. It turned out to be an impossible task to rebuild anything so they just rolled over and took the easy option, which was a decent lifestyle for themselves at the expense of the people they were purporting to represent, and it will continue to happen until there’s nothing left.

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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKsOWzksw

Post by Googly »

Gargamel- when I see Revolution and Comrade in the same paragraph I see a person who has not learnt one thing from the destruction that ideology has created.
And no it wasn’t necessary, they were trying to replace better players with inferior black ones because it suited their power grab couched in a populist agenda. All they had to do was to continue building black cricket over the next few years until the players were good enough not to be ignored, and it really was happening, just not fast enough for people that can’t see past today, it was just impatience to get to the cookie jar. Tell me who’s ultimately benefitted from that? I can answer- a small handful of people. The real issue is that when that small handful are black guys it’s seen as a victory, well it’s the exact opposite, it’s a monumental disaster. It’s come at a huge cost in every sport (not only sport!) that whites have been ousted from. In hindsight the incentive was to prove to the whites that they were at least their equals, once the whites were gone and the fight was won no one seemed to know what to do next. The real expectation was that whites would hang around and accept the new master servant relationship and it’s been hollow victory after hollow victory when they just packed their bags and left. The excuse for years was that the exodus was racially motivated when in fact they just didn’t want to be part of poorly run even more racist systems. That tired rhetoric has run its course because now the black folk with options exercise them faster than you can blink.
“White privilege” has been replaced by the worst nepotism and racism that you could possible imagine, yet somehow “white privilege” sounds infinitely more ugly, but it suits continued agendas.
When we look after our own it’s racist white privilege and when the black community does the same it’s called black empowerment and it’s lauded and encouraged. Over and over all it does is create a tiny black elite ruling over collapsed systems. It’s not even up for debate, there’s decades of concrete proof, both here and in South Africa, to prove it. I don’t think there’s one single exception to this in any sporting or government institutions.
What has been proven over and over is that administration is not easy. A $1000 suit, pointy shoes and a fancy company car does not give you administrative skills. It boils down to integrity, accountability and ability.

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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by Googly »

And when I see the term Comrade used by people quick to denounce another community’s unwillingness to supposedly integrate yet use a term that deliberately differentiates themselves I can only laugh at that double standard. One set of rules for them and another set for everyone else. A comrade here is really the term used to identity those entitled to share in the spoils, not someone who partook in any struggle or who should be sharing in the non existent benefits of a free and just society, which surely was the point of the whole exercise? They’ll call others Comrade because that makes people feel special and they’ll tolerate a bit more looting, it’s ingenious.
When you take something that you never created you’re hardly ever equipped to do anything with it but watch it disintegrate before your very eyes, I find no solace in it as I live here most of the time, but there is some karma in all of that.

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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by Googly »

There is no denying our past history that is marred by discrimination and holding back the development of the promising black talent
And what’s the excuse now? :lol:

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Re: REST IN PEACE PETER CHINGOKA

Post by Googly »

So by your own admission something has to be done to put an end to this discrimination and the holding back of white AND black young talent? Do you have any suggestions? :lol: :lol:
You’re defending a system you purport (I like this word) to despise, there can only be one reason.... :lol:

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