Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) position has always been that the people of Zimbabwe must decide who their political leaders must be. That is why CSA has always adopted the position that it is not for the International Cricket Council (ICC) or any member country to use the ICC to put pressure on Zimbabwe to bring about “regime change”.
But the position changed significantly in June 2008 when Zimbabweans were not freely able to choose their political leader.
In the weeks leading to the run-off presidential election, the state-sponsored violence perpetrated against Zimbabweans was impossible for any decent human being to ignore.
At this point, the CSA board decided unanimously to suspend bilateral relations with the Zimbabwean Cricket Union (ZCU).
The basis for the decision was that many, if not most, Zimbabweans were being denied the right to vote in a democratic election.
This situation (in June 2008) approximated our situation under apartheid pre-1994. It was a decision based on the historical experience of the overwhelming majority of black South Africans who were denied the right to vote by brutal oppression over many years, and who otherwise supported the struggle for nonracialism in sport.
At the July 2008 ICC meeting, it was the (then) president of the ICC (Ray Mali) who placed the Zimbabwe issue on the agenda for discussion as an “extraordinary item”.
The possible suspension and/or expulsion of Zimbabwe were never on the agenda. In fact, the ICC constitution provides that a full member country may only be suspended or expelled by the ICC conference and not the ICC executive board.
As far as I know, the CSA board has not reviewed, let alone rescinded (by the constitutionally required two-thirds majority), the decision unanimously
adopted in June 2008.
A starting point in relation to any review (and possible rescission) by the CSA of its decision, would be to look at the recommendations to be made in the Julian Hunte report, which will be tabled at the April 2009 ICC meeting.
From that report, the CSA will be able to consider the nature and scope of any assistance to be given.
At the very least, any review must await the outcome of the Hunte report. Any decision to provide assistance before that time would be premature and quite irresponsible.
Now that a power-sharing agreement has been concluded, I would suggest that CSA proceed very cautiously in its approach in dealing with the ZCU. The people of Zimbabwe and, in particular, the cricketers of Zimbabwe deserve our full support as soon as possible.
However, before that both the ICC and CSA must ensure that the ZCU resolves its poor corporate governance issues and is held accountable for irregularities highlighted in the 2007 KPMG ICC audit report.
Norman Arendse is former CSA president and was at the helm of the association when the decision to suspend Zimbabwe was taken.