Flower should let black cricketers bloom

Flower should let black cricketers bloom

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By Mduduzi Mathuthu

FORMER Zimbabwe cricket captain Andy Flower was a wonderful servant for his country, and all Zimbabweans are proud of his contribution to the national game.

I was overwhelmingly saddened this week, then, to learn that he was backing an international ban on Zimbabwean cricket because a mad tyrant is on the loose in Harare.

It’s saddening because as a professional, Flower should know that it is unreasonable to punish anyone, including a sports star, for the actions of another individual.

That’s why when Paul Phiri kills and robs a pensioner, it is him who is arrested not his father, teacher or flatmate. The rules of justice demand that.

Tatenda Taibu, Vusumuzi Sibanda and all the other promising young black cricket players could wake up tomorrow and find they have no-one to play them. Their careers are over before they really took off! That can’t be what Flower is advocating?

As he well knows, Robert Mugabe did not become a murderer in 2008. He has always killed – right from 1982 when he went after the Ndebeles in Matabeleland. Yet we never heard these shrieking calls to ban Zimbabwean cricket.

When Flower did raise his voice, in 2003, he wore an armband to protest at Mugabe’s regime. Brave soul! But why didn’t he ask for a ban then? There is no prize for guessing.

Zimbabweans are tired of the misdiagnosis of their crisis and the wrong prescriptions being offered from London.

You can ban cricket, strip Mugabe of his honorary degrees or take away his knighthood. That in no circumstance helps Mqondisi in Tsholotsho. To the contrary, it emboldens Mugabe’s resolve to go after his opponents with vengeful purpose.

Am I alone in wondering why Zimbabwe is being given this prescription, which is not being offered to Pakistan? An opposition leader was killed in broad daylight there and Islamabad teems with terrorist menace. For all we know, Osama Bin Laden is resident there. Ever heard of a plan to ban Pakistan Cricket?

Why then should Zimbabweans accept this innately racist stunt?

Mathuthu is the New Zimbabwe.com editor. He can be contacted via e-mail: mathuthu@newzimbabwe.com
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