Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, said today he would raise with President Robert Mugabe’s government, the ban this week on two British cricket journalists from coming to Zimbabwe.
He was speaking shortly after his arrival here at the head of an ICC committee,on a three-day visit to assess whether Zimbabwe can be a safe host for six World Cup cricket matches, scheduled to be played here in next year’s quadrennial tournament, centred in South Africa.
Yesterday the Zimbabwean high commission in London refused to give visas to two senior British journalists planning to accompany the committee. Both had the support of the ICU and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
Speed said he was ”not entirely sure of the background” to the Zimbabwe government’s decision.
He said the incident and the government’s policy on allowing journalists in to cover the World Cup, will be discussed in a meeting scheduled tomorrow with sport and education minister, Aeneas Chigwedere.
He had also asked for a meeting with Jonathan Moyo, the information minister who maintains a comprehensive ban on foreign journalists wanting to visit Zimbabwe.
Most sports journalists covering sport in Zimbabwe in the last year, have entered in the guise of tourists.
”I think it’s important that all of the matches (being played in Zimbabwe) receive the maximum amount of coverage,” Speed said.
”We would like every journalist to be accredited as a cricket journalist, to come into Zimbawbe freely so we can maximise coverage of some great cricket matches.”
The Zimbabwean segment of the World Cup is already controversial because critics say that it will give credence to President Robert Mugabe, blamed for the violent suppression of his opponents and now accused of withholding food from opposition supporters, while the country suffers unprecedented famine.
Mugabe is also the patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, but has not been seen at matches for about 10 years.
The visit of Speed’s committee, follows misgivings by English and Australian cricket boards about the security of their players, in a country wracked by state-driven lawlessness, that has seen 200 opposition supporters murdered by state agents in nearly three years.
He said the group would meet ZCU officials, local authorities, police and security experts in Harare and Bulawayo. A report would be issued to the ICC board within 10 days of the delegation leaving Harare.
There are widespread calls for the Zimbabwe matches to be dropped in protest against the government, but Speed told journalists, ”it’s not our function to evaluate the political regimes of our members.
”There are 84 members of the ICC and we are interested in the way they go about playing cricket. There are political issues in many of these countries, but they are issues for politicians, not
cricket administrators.” Zimbabwe, as a full Test cricket-playing nation, ”has earned the right to host the matches in the ICC World Cup,” he said. – Sapa