Zimbabwe Cricket's purge continues

Zimbabwe Cricket's purge of anyone who opposed the Peter Chingoka-led regime continued with the dismissal of team manager Babu Meman.

Meman's sacking follows the departure of former selectors Max Ebrahim, Ethan Dube and Richie Kaschula. Ebrahim and Dube stood down, while Kaschula was removed by the interim committee at its first sitting two weeks ago.

Meman is thought to have paid for backing striking players in their quest for better contracts and treatment. He was part of a group of stakeholders, led by Ahmed Ebrahim, who until the government takeover, were advocating for changes in the ZC hierarchy.

Meman is believed to have taken legal advice after being given three months' notice, a situation he called "an absolute disgrace". Meman has managed most of their sides since they were given Test status in 1992. He was also a selector for a time.

Kaschula also received a letter informing him that he would be out of a job in three months' time. He told a press agency that he believed the move was illegal.

There are now no high-profile opponents of Chingoka and his new executive remaining within ZC, and it is expected that attention will now turn to undertaking a similar exercise among the provincial boards where some vocal critics retain senior positions.

At the time of the appointment of the interim executive earlier in the month, Gibson Mashingaidze, an army brigadier and chairman of the government's Sports and Recreation Commission, announced that white and Asian directors had been dismissed because of "their racial connotations and saving their own agendas and not government policy."