Australia's Tour of Zimbabwe

[slade]

Cricket is the last thing on the minds of many people in Zimbabwe. According to the BBC (which is banned from reporting from there but probably has contacts there) the economy is in crisis and is suffering from hyper inflation. The price of a loaf of bread is now about a day's wages and many people are struggling to put 1 meal on the table let alone 3. There is 80% unemployment and the economy is being supported by money being sent back from Zimbabweans living in SA. The Mugabe regime suppresses any opposition ruthlessly. Of course a cricket tour shouldn't go ahead.

 

[arkmarkell]

Rob Magabe has no effect on the country son. I obviously never met him, but I am talking from experience here, and the blacks copped it more than the whites (around the area of Harare I lived in anyway.)

are you an idiot? You lived in Zim for 3 months.This obviously wasnt very recent. I was born there and lived there for 15 years. I experienced first hand the wrath of this dictator. ( living on a farm for those 15 years being evicted illegally at the end.) I am also white and as the whites have had it hard, but not nearly as hard as the blacks, which is ironic cause even though mugabe hates the whites he punishes his own people worse.(torture, rape and executuions).

Mugabe is the sole cause of the situation in Zimbabwe, he is the one who directs all the violence and corruption which caused our economy to crash. How can u say he has no effect on the country. He is no different to the worst dictators of the world such as Saddam, Idi Amin etc.

now getting back to the topic, if Australia do send their team then this will send the wrong message to the worldwide community.( as to say everything is alright in my country). This is exactly what Mugabe and his cronies want. As long as they live like kings, whilst 11 million of their own people live below the poverty line. (official stats say 82% of the population live below the poverty line). someone mentioned earlier that cricket is the last thing on people's mind in zimbabwe. this is very true at this moment in time. Cricket used to be the only sport where we were internationally recognised as being a half decent team. We used to be proud of our team, but now after all the corruption which has occured at the ZCU, which has resulted in our team being withered down to a bunch of amateur players, it has now become a joke. Another well known fact in Zimbabwe is that Mugabe indirectly controls the ZCU, as he is its patron and his government elects the leaders of our cricket union.

Henry Olonga has come out and said the Aussies should not tour, and I can assure you that his view will be held by the majortiy of Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora. If they do tour, it will just be another failure by the worldwide community to act on the situation in zimbabwe.

 

[valvolux]

What I wanna know is - will Zimbabwe be handed the points from the series? I do recall teams do a similar thing in the 2003 WC and handing their points to Zim. Either the ICC has to be consistent or finally come to the realisation that Zim should be banned from cricket all together.

 

[smssia0112]

Well it has been officially announced that the tour is off, although Australia have suggested moving it to a neutral venue, such as South Africa. John Howard has taken the blame as expected, so that the players don't have to decide.

 

[Hooper]

Yeah the Government has actually stopped them, forst time ever!

 

[aussie1st]

Good to see now the ICC won't penalise us, of course if they want it on neutral ground then so be it. Hopefully we end a few youngsters although won't happen.

 

[valvolux]

Good on you Howard. Although it pisses me off how we're immediately getting the racist tag again.

 

[Sureshot]

Finally, maybe the ICC should take a hint and expel Zimbabwe from international cricket.

 

[prarara]

I can't believe the Zimbabwean 'Information' Director is calling the Australians racist. It's a convoluted form of a backhanded gesture and a 'you did it too' defense. Suffice it to say that the refusal of the Director to meet with Cricinfo, and other media (such as the BBC), doesn't bode well for his credibility.

 

[mattfb]

Finally, maybe the ICC should take a hint and expel Zimbabwe from international cricket.

I couldn't agree more, this behavious is going to occur more, with more teams pulling out of tours, having it in SA is a good idea if you ask me, the whole reason the tour is off is because of the safety issues in ZIM, SA are fine if you ask me so move it to there and you got your series.

 

[arkmarkell]

Good on you Howard. Although it pisses me off how we're immediately getting the racist tag again.

All western countries (should i say white) are labelled racist the minute they accuse any african countries of wrong doing, even when the accusations clearly have nothin to do with race. This has happened for decades and will continue to happen, but I think the world now realises that the racist excuse is not valid anymore.

But what it also means is that Western power houses (USA and the UK) are scared of acting on african issues, in fear of being labelled racist by other governments and their own people(therefore losing votes). A perfect example is the Zimbabwe situation. Human rights have been grossly violated in this country for 8 years and nothing serious has been done about it by the major countries of the world. If they where to impose sanctions(proper) or send troops(which i now believe is the only way to rescue Zimbabwe from this dictator, it has become that bad), then there would be a huge out cry from the world.

Another solution is applying political pressure on South Africa, as they single handley have the most influence over Zimbabwe. But instead they sit quietly and watch their neighbours starve. Their policy exists because their government has a lot of corrupt deals with Mugabe.

And like the poster said, thankyou Howard for cancelling the tour. Maybe countries will see a major leader standing up to this tyrant and they will follow suite. He must be removed. Mr Howard the people of Zimbabwe will remember this the day they are freed.

 

[Sureshot]

I couldn't agree more, this behavious is going to occur more, with more teams pulling out of tours, having it in SA is a good idea if you ask me, the whole reason the tour is off is because of the safety issues in ZIM, SA are fine if you ask me so move it to there and you got your series.

Hmmm....

I don't agree with it being in RSA either because I don't think that South Africa should be playing international cricket due to their racial selection policies. If we left Monty out for someone else because he wasn't white would be allowed to do it? No chance.

We shouldn't play Zimbabwe full stop, be it our country, their's or a neutrals.

 

[Skater]

There are more problems in Zimbabwe than there was in Iraq it seems. Gordon Brown will probably send his army into Africa now to overturn Robert Mugabe.

They should be isolated from everything in the world until they sort themselves out.

 

[slade]

Don't be silly .. theres no oil in Zimbabwe

 

[smssia0112]

Hmmm....

I don't agree with it being in RSA either because I don't think that South Africa should be playing international cricket due to their racial selection policies. If we left Monty out for someone else because he wasn't white would be allowed to do it? No chance.

We shouldn't play Zimbabwe full stop, be it our country, their's or a neutrals.

South Africa have a rule that requires them to select a certain amount of black players in all of their squads, not sure that they are being racist.