Cricket South Africa (CSA) and English cricket players are taking to heart Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call to isolate Zimbabwean cricket as a way of demonstrating their opposition to human rights abuses in that country.
Archbishop Tutu this week told the Guardian he supported a cricket boycott as long as Robert Mugabe remained president.
Responding to Tutu, England cricket captain Andrew Strauss said players will consider boycotting next summer’s series against Zimbabwe if Mugabe remains in power in Harare. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play two Tests and three one-day games in May.
The British government has indicated that it will refuse visas to the Zimbabwe team if the political situation does not change.
”It is something we are going to have to talk about,” Strauss said. ”We have felt in the past that there have been great opportunities for the government to show the strength of feeling that there is among the population as a whole. There was a feeling the last tour to Zimbabwe should not have gone ahead, and if it comes around again we will have to look at it.
”Our two previous tours to Zimbabwe have been difficult occasions, in which players were left in the lurch by the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] and the government. It has come down to personal preferences and some tough decisions have been made. I think when we come round to the issue again we all hope that the political situation in Zimbabwe is very different.”
Tutu said: ”I think it is fantastic [that the players will consider a boycott] and I hope they do, but it ought not to be left to the players … it ought to be the administrators and even more so governments.
”In a matter like this when you have egregious violations of human rights, governments have to say this is something we will not tolerate and we will not allow our teams to participate.”
Norman Arendse, president of CSA, said the body respects the Archbishop’s views but will, for the time being, continue with the position adopted by world cricket’s controlling body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which supports the Zimbabwean cricketers and not President Robert Mugabe. He said, however, that CSA was not averse to changing this policy.
”I see no reason why policies can’t be reviewed. Is banning Zimbabwean cricket going to change what is currently happening in that country? No. The people of Zimbabwe should decide who they want to lead them. The current situation is different to our situation during the apartheid government. Both black and white players are eligible to play in one team.”
Zimbabwe participated in the South African MTN and Standard Bank competitions in the 2007/08 domestic season.
They are also expected to take part in the SuperSport series in the next coming season.
Arendse said: ”We are going to have a meeting next Wednesday and top of our agenda will be the Zimbabwean issue. We will then pronounce what our stance on Zimbabwe will be, but for now I must stress that we take the Archbishop’s views seriously and our policy is to support Zimbabwean cricket.”
Tutu said: ”I think [the ICC] are more and more aware of how people are incensed by what is happening and they will be totally out of step if they do nothing. Maybe the public should vote with their feet if we do not take appropriate action, and not come to the ground, to make the point that life is about peace.” —