Article
By David Coltart
19 March 2010
I am deeply disappointed by the apparent decision made by the New Zealand Government to discourage the New Zealand cricket team from touring Zimbabwe in June 2010. Prime Minister John Key is reported as stating that the main concern was for “player safetyâ€.
For reasons I will elaborate on later I believe that such concerns are misplaced. I cannot help but feel that there are other reasons behind this decision, in particular deep rooted concerns about ongoing human rights abuses within Zimbabwe, scepticism regarding the transitional agreement and its chances of survival and perhaps distaste for the fact that certain personalities are still in office. If I am correct in this assumption one understands why this has not been stated openly – because New Zealand may then become liable to pay damages to Zimbabwe Cricket.
Be that as it may I believe there are compelling reasons why the tour should go ahead. I write this in the context of being a human rights lawyer who has opposed human rights abuses in Zimbabwe for the last 27 years.
Firstly, those of us in the MDC are ourselves deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses and our collective failure as a transitional government to fully implement the transitional agreement. The fact is that it is a deeply flawed agreement entered into between protagonists who have a fundamentally different outlook on how a country should be run. However, putting it negatively, it is the only viable non violent option we have. The only other option is to allow the country to degenerate into another Somalia. To prevent this from happening we have had to compromise. People responsible for egregious acts have remained in office but that is the price we have had to pay for a peaceful, albeit frustratingly slow, transition to democracy.
But there is also a positive side. Despite our failure to fully implement the agreement we have made remarkable progress in the last year. The economy has stabilised. Schools have been reopened. Hospitals and clinics now have drugs and the cholera epidemic of 2008 stopped. There has been a massive downturn in the number of human rights abuses. People are not routinely being abducted and tortured as was the case just over a year ago. The media is gradually opening up and the BBC and CNN, for example, are now able to operate freely in the country. In the realm of cricket there has been substantial progress. Mal-administration in the sport is being addressed; racism and tribalism in team selection has been ended and former doyens of the sport, such as Heath Streak, have been reintegrated. There are of course still terrible things happening in Zimbabwe generally but this is a gradual process and it is simply unrealistic to expect that everything will change overnight. In other words whilst these gnawing fears of the New Zealand government were well founded they should not be making decisions based on history but on a current assessment of the situation. And all who visit Zimbabwe now agree that it is a fundamentally better place than what it was even a year ago.
Secondly, for all the political rhetoric, the fact is that the agreement is functional and is gradually being implemented in its entirety. Zanu PF has been desperately holding on to whatever power it can and has resisted implementing certain aspects of the agreement. But as demonstrated by the successful visit of President Zuma to Harare this week there is progress and in my view there is no danger of the agreement collapsing in the near future. For example I was present in the Senate last week when all parties finally unanimously agreed to the passage of a new Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act which dramatically curtails the powers of the Bank Governor Gideon Gono, widely held responsible for the Bank being used as Zanu PF’s principal means of patronage. MDC Ambassadors have recently been deployed after an inordinate delay, including the MDC’s Jacquie Zwambila to New Zealand. There are many other positive developments but space does not allow me to elaborate on; suffice it to say that overall there is more good than bad.
Thirdly, and most importantly, our friends in the international community have an obligation to help those of us acting in good faith to make this peaceful process work and sport has a critically important role to play in this regard. Clint Eastwood’s recent film “Invictus†about Nelson Mandela’s efforts to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to forge unity in post apartheid South Africa is a powerful reminder of the positive role sport can play in assisting countries in transition. Whilst there are obvious differences between South Africa in the early 1990s and Zimbabwe today, there are many similarities. We are in transition; we too have to forgive those responsible for terrible things done in the last decade; there are still those who will do all in their power to derail the peaceful process. Just as rugby was able to bind a nation together then I believe cricket can play a similar role in Zimbabwe today. Already we have seen national pride swell as our multiracial team has started to perform better in the tour to the West Indies. I have no doubt that were the New Zealand tour to go ahead that process would accelerate. I say “Commonwealth†because we should never forget that despite our current estrangement Zimbabwe has been in the past, and will in future be again, a key component of the Commonwealth.
We have been through a nightmarish decade and we are only just re-emerging. Tragically if our Commonwealth friends continue to shun us their actions will play right into the hands of the few Zanu PF hardliners who would like to break the agreement. In doing so Zimbabwe will be cast into another downward spiral of human rights abuses and economic turmoil. The costs of this will be incalculable not only for the Zimbabweans, who have suffered so much already, but also for the entire Southern African region. In short we need the New Zealand government to play a more supportive role. When those of us who have long records of consistently opposing human rights abuses state that we believe the process should be supported we deserve to be listened to. In saying so I recognise that there are political risks involved but these are risks worth taking. Nelson Mandela took many risks but history shows they were correct to take.
Furthermore when it is the clear wish of former Zimbabwean cricketers such as Heath Streak and Grant Flower, now both national coaches who have also suffered in the last decade, that this tour should go ahead, they too should be listened to. Others such as Tatenda Taibu, who also suffered during the impasse are back playing and want the tour to go ahead.
What I am absolutely convinced about is that by asking the New Zealand team to travel there are substantially less safety and security risks involved than there are in touring the United Kingdom, the sub continent or indeed South Africa. We do not have any terrorist or Al Qaeda threat in Zimbabwe; bombs have not gone off in Harare as they have in London or Mumbai in the last decade. There is no danger of political unrest within the country because all the major political players are committed to making the agreement work. Crime rates in Harare and Bulawayo are far below those in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In short Zimbabwe is one of the safest places to travel to and this concern of the New Zealand government is simply misplaced and not based on fact.
I was privileged to celebrate last New Year’s Eve with a group of New Zealand volunteers led by Auckland teacher Alice Davidson in depths of rural Zimbabwe. They were out helping rehabilitate clinics and schools which they did with great passion and humour. They found an amazingly peaceful Zimbabwe and had a wonderful time. I do not think there was a moment when they feared for their safety. They were also great ambassadors for New Zealand and did much to rebuild a sound relationship between our two nations. I have no doubt that if the New Zealand team decides to honour its obligation to tour Zimbabwe in June they will find they will be welcomed by all with remarkable warmth and friendliness. In the process they will help Zimbabwe cricket in its quest to regain Test status, bring much joy to the Zimbabwean cricketing public and greatly help our peaceful transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. I hope that the New Zealand Government will have the vision and boldness to enable this to happen.