Cricket fans call on ZC board to step aside
By Austin Karonga
Fans have called for the immediate resignation of the entire Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) board citing a number of grievances.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Supporters Union (ZCSU)’s reasons for their disappointment range from maladministration, failure to develop the game, a shambolic domestic league, victimisation and blocking the formation of a players’ union.
On Tuesday, ZCSU held a demonstration at the famous Castle Corner during Zimbabwe’s harrowing 100-run defeat to Australia in a Twenty20 match at Harare Sports Club.
The fans then followed that protest with an ultimatum addressed to ZC chairperson Tavengwa Mukuhlani in which they highlighted their grievances.
“ZCSU is writing to you to express our great disappointment with the administration of the game of Zimbabwe,” ZCSU chairperson Tapfumaneyi Banhire wrote.
“Chair(person), as the supporters, we feel the board that you lead has failed to properly run and manage cricket in Zimbabwe and we call upon you to do the noble thing and dissolve yourselves and pave way for the reformation of cricket administration in Zimbabwe to save the game from total collapse.
“ZCSU has noted…as reasons for our great disappointment; the appointment of Faisal Hasnain as the MD, an individual who spent most of his tenure out of the country remote-controlling the administration from Dubai.
“This is a clear case of maladministration which must never be allowed in the sport.”
The supporters’ body went on to accuse the ZC leadership of failing to develop the game citing the shambolic domestic league programme.
“The current franchise and List A are just being maintained to make sure that ZC fulfils the requirement by ICC that all top nations should have a running franchise, but in actual sense there’s nothing much happening and the conditions in which the games are being played are pathetic,” Banhire said.
“The domestic T20 league has since vanished from the calendar. There’s widespread victimisation within ZC structures.
“Every stakeholder in the country is witnessing the rot at ZC but they’re reluctant to speak against it because anyone who dares that will be victimised by the ZC board.
“Everyone who feeds his family through cricket in Zimbabwe will lose his job the moment he opens his mouth against ZC board.”
With ZC struggling to offset a $19 million loan owed to a local bank, the supporters also expressed their dismay over debt management.
“The ZC debt plan has continued ballooning over the years under the watch of the board and there’s nothing much being done to manage it,” Banhire added.
“The government has of late intervened and we are aware of the outcome of the ICC meeting in Dublin over the weekend.
“But we know that the agreed plan will all be in vain if the current board is in place.
‘We need new people to come and manage the ICC bailout plan.
“The board has always gotten away with the divide and rule tactic against the players, hence the blocking of the formation of the players’ union that should be collectively bargaining on behalf of players.
“No employer must block the formation of a workers’ union and even government workers have unions.”
Mukuhlani was not available for comment on the ZCSU allegations as he was travelling form the ICC board meeting in Dublin, Ireland. DailyNews
