New Zealand will continue lobbying for a worldwide ban on Zimbabwe cricket despite an International Cricket Council (ICC) ruling that its national side must play a series in the African nation this year or face heavy financial penalties, Foreign Minister Phil Goff said on Wednesday.
Goff told Radio New Zealand he was disappointed but not surprised by reports from London that the ICC would insist the New Zealand Black Caps honour a contract to tour Zimbabwe in August.
ICC president Eshan Mani was reported to have announced this at a media conference in London on Tuesday.
The New Zealand government has said it would prefer the team to stay at home for fear Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, whose so-called urban clean-up campaign has rendered hundreds of thousands of his people homeless, will use the tour for political propaganda.
But the government has said it would not ape Mugabe?s tactics by ordering the players not to go.
Goff said New Zealand would continue to apply the greatest pressure and leverage it could to see Zimbabwe blacklisted from international cricket.
”I think it’s important to put it on the record just how we feel, not only about the situation in Zimbabwe but about the ICC, which apparently can turn a total blind eye to the huge abuses of human rights that are occurring there and say we’ll just play on regardless,” he said.
Goff said he was writing to the ICC and continuing to consult the British and Australian governments that have signalled support in principle for his campaign.
”Obviously if we can get the support of some of the other countries — Australia and the United Kingdom in particular — that helps,” he said.
”It will hopefully help for this year — if not for this year, it lays the groundwork for changes in the agreement in future.”
The government has said it will stop the Zimbabwe cricket team making a return tour of New Zealand in December by denying entry visas and the ICC is reported to have said it will accept that. – Sapa-DPA