hey tassie tiger im an ex-zimbabwean who now lives in Australia. I left, (basically forced, because I am white) in late 2002. The situation there is all politically and racially motivated, but more politics. President Mugabe started using the Zimbabwe cricket team as way to justify his actions in the country. For example, the world cup where they made it look as nothing was happening in Zimbabwe by enforcing heavy security on the grounds so that there would be no protests. I praise all the teams who did not attend their group matches in Zim, (especially England) but was outraged by Australia who played, and also the ICC who should never had let an event like this to take place in a country where a dictator is starving his own people, just to remain in power. What happens is, international viewers see the matches in Zimbabwe, and they think what is all this news about Zimbabwe having problems, it must all be rubbish because I watched a cricket match there today and nothing went wrong. Then Andy Flower and Henry Olonga protested. I dont think people realise how serious their protest was. In doing this protest they endangered their own lives and families, especially Olonga who had to seek political asylum, because if he had remained in Zimbabwe he would have been captured by government authorites and seriously tortured, as has happened to many people(black and white) who stand up against the government. The reason why Olonga was in more trouble, was the fact that he was black and branded a traitor by the Mugabe and his thugs. But for normal black zimbabweans he was a hero, legend even. When Zanu PF and Mugabe are finally removed, he will be remembered as a hero for many years. The fact that their protest failed to induce much change in Zimbabwe was very disapponinting,many zimbabweans felt let down by the international community(as we have been ever since this crisis started).
What happened after that, was that Heath Streak and many other senior members of the team realised that Mugabe was using the cricket team as a political tool, and they basically protested against this. The official reason might suggest otherwise, but I think they also saw that there was no hope in remaining in Zim, so they quit.
Zim cricket at the moment is in tatters, and reflects the problems in Zimbabwe. The board of the ZCU is full of Zanu PF henchmen who are just puppets of Mugabe and his ministers from Zanu PF. They see Zimbabwe cricket as a easy way to make money, and in recent weeks there has been accusations made against the board, these include corruption and the looting of ZCU funding.
The interesting part is the race issue which always comes into discussion when talking about Zim. Race has defiantly played a huge part in Zim politics.But as always happens in Africa, is when its white against blacks a huge uproar erupts and everyone is angry(the Zim government quicky label the whites as racist), when it goes the other way, blacks against white then its all alright and hushed up very quick, as has happened in Zimbabwe in past years.
It is no longer a racial issue in Zimbabwe, as the black zimbabweans(the majority) start to realise that Mugabe is wrong and that they must stand up against him. (the reason why they have failed to do this is because its not in their culture to challenge their leader). He has killed many of his own people and burnt their houses down,and on the way he has destroyed the economy, to the point where average black Zimbabweans can not afford one meal per day. Why i say that it is not a racial issue anymore,is because mugabe does not care about his own people anymore(never mind the whites), and will do anything to remain in power. Tatenda Taibu has recently come out and said that there is mass corruption in the ZCU, and he has called (along with many other state board members) for the ruling powers of the ZCU to step down. The fact that Taibu is black, has the same effect as Olonga's earlier protest, and it is really a major hope when a black captain stands up and says there is something wrong. It is really hard for black people to do this as they are always under scrutiny by the governements thugs who swear to "deal" with anyone who stands up to them. And as predicted, they have threatened Taibu who had to go into hiding, in fear of being captured and being tortured.
Sorry about my long post, but it is very important that international people be informed of the real happenings in this country. The only way that all the human rights abuses will stop is if the international community(especially governments) puts serious pressure on the Zimbabwe government, demanding Mugabe be removed or that he make drastic changes to the situation. If he is not removed, Zimbabwe cricket will continue to suffer. I believe they should have already lost their test status, until the internal problems are fixed.
this article also sums up the situation very well.
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/226221.html
