The New Zealand cricket team departed on Monday for Africa to prepare for its August series in Zimbabwe as lawmakers continued to press for the cancellation of the tour.
The Parliamentary Green Party, which has rallied opposition to the tour in protest at human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, said it was not too late for the New Zealand government to intervene.
”Our government could still find the courage to stop the tour,” Green Party co-leader Rod Donald told reporters on Monday.
”There is also the prospect that the fuel and food shortages in Zimbabwe will deteriorate to such a point that New Zealand Cricket (NZC) will decide that it’s unsafe for our team to be there anyway.”
New Zealand is due to play two Test matches against Zimbabwe and a series of limited-overs internationals against Zimbabwe and India on a tour which begins on August 4.
The New Zealand government has expressed abhorrence of the human rights record under Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe.
But it has refused to legislate to keep the team at home, a move the International Cricket Council has said is necessary to prevent New Zealand Cricket from incurring financial penalties if the tour does not proceed.
New Zealand Cricket said it will abide by its contractual obligation to tour Zimbabwe under the ICC’s future tours programme.
Failure to make the tour could lead to fines of up to $2-million (about R13-million) and demands for the reimbursement of revenue lost by the host nation.
Opinion polls in New Zealand have shown strong public opposition to the tour but only narrow support for legislation to keep the team at home. The government has indicated it will withhold visas from the Zimbabwe team which is due to make a reciprocal tour to New Zealand in December.
”The Government is refusing to pass legislation to stop the Black Caps tour of Zimbabwe, saying that it is unwilling to undermine NZC’s right to be free from government interference,” Donald said.
”However, it has already been quite willing to interfere in NZC’s business by preventing Zimbabwe’s tour to New Zealand.
”It’s just a smokescreen to divert attention from the fact that the government does not have the political will to do what the majority of Kiwis want it to do — pass legislation to prevent the Black Caps’ tour from going ahead.”
The New Zealand cricketers were flying to Namibia on Monday to fine-tune their game for the tour. – Sapa-AP