Deputy Commissioners Report

Mr Malcolm Speed
Chief Executive Officer
International Cricket Council

Dear Mr Speed

CORRESPONDENCE RE "SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF ZIMBABWE"

1. The letter by the "Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe", the e-mail by Director Mark Hankel to Director Ben van Deventer, as well as a letter from Commissioner G F Zengeni, Chief Staff Officer of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, have reference (copies included).

2. On 10 February 2003 I had a telephonic conversation with Commissioner Zengeni and Msuthu. Commissioner Msuthu is currently serving as Director of the Interpol Sub-Regional Bureau in Harare. The following responses were given by the officers to questions posed to them in order to get clarity on the matter:

Although an organisation by the name of the "Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe" is not known to them, the threat was taken seriously until proved otherwise. This is the reason for response to the Interpol office in Pretoria. This is common practice amongst law-enforcement agencies.

After further investigation, the officers came to the following conclusion:

The organisation "Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe" has no known membership, organisational structure, etc. An organisation by this name has not drawn any attention in Zimbabwe previously, let alone being involved in any acts of violence. Commissioner Zengeni described it "as an organisation on paper, possibly one person who was only responsible for a single act - the drafting of the letter". Therefore they are of the opinion that this so-called organisation poses no threat to the English cricket team or any other cricket team for that matter.

"Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe" is thus a name used by possibly a single person aligned to a pressure group in Zimbabwe opposing the co-hosting of CWC 2003 by the country. This could even include the MDC.

3. From consultations with the Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Secret Service, the South African Service and I can only come to the same conclusion:

The letter was sent by a person or persons with the sole purpose of disrupting CWC 2003, especially as far as the co-hosting of the event in Zimbabwe is concerned.

This person/s has no capacity to carry out any threat. From a security point of view it should thus be treated as "propaganda" and not as a direct threat.

4. In view of the above and from my evaluation of the Zimbabwe Republic Police's security plans applicable to the matches to be played in Zimbabwe, I am of the view that there is no reason why matches should not be played in Zimbabwe.

DEPUTY NATIONAL COMMISSIONER : SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE L C A PRUIS