ICC take the way of expediency

So, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union is not racist, and while one or two of its directors have had their wrists slapped, all is well. International cricket can proceed, the money keeps rolling in, and everyone is happy. Well, almost.

The findings of the two-man panel charged with investigating allegations of racism inside the ZCU must have been a relief to those running cricket. That it has been greeted with a mixture of anger and disbelief by some inside Zimbabwe - black and white - is perhaps indicative of the suspicion that the outcome is all a little too convenient.

Those individuals who have stood up to the ZCU feel let down - "betrayed" is a word that kept cropping up in discussions last night - and believe that they have been treated as liars by the ICC.

In fairness, the case against the board was unconvincing. The rebel players, who attracted considerable sympathy at the outset, have been haemorrhaging it ever since, and their perceived unwillingness to compromise during the hearing seems to have done them irreparable harm. To many, the arguments they put forward were amateurish and often appeared based on self-interest rather than righting more general wrongs.

But the evidence against some of the board's senior officials was damning, or rather, should have been. Even if the depositions of the rebels were discounted, there was enough evidence to show that those officials acted entirely inappropriately. The hearing was told that two of them brawled over the number of blacks in the side; that a journalist had been threatened and accused of siding with the whites; arguably their actions might not have been racially motivated, but they were certainly politically so.

Fortunately for those individuals, the ICC's brief was limited enough to be able to ignore much of this. It comforted itself with recommendations that the functioning of some ZCU directors needed to be addressed, without identifying how this might be monitored. But if those responsible for many of the functions of the board are of a certain mindset, then surely it has to follow that their views will spill over into the day-to-day workings of the board? It seems not.

There had been rumours for several days that the ZCU would be cleared, and last week's attack by Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, on the rebel players' lawyer seemed to be preparing the way for such an announcement.

But there have to be questions as to why the hearing was held in Harare in the first place. Zimbabwe is not a country where free speech is tolerated, despite the ZCU's insistence that Zimbabwe is a free and democratic society - last Friday's brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrations in Harare is proof, were it needed. Rule is by fear and intimidation. Some of the officials who stood accused are disciples of such tactics. The hotel where the hearing was held was liberally dotted with heavies as if to emphasise exactly who was in charge. If the hearing had been held outside Zimbabwe, say in South Africa, then the air of intimidation would have been greatly reduced.

Reading the transcript of the truncated hearing, it is clear from the heavy-handed approach of Norman Arendse, the ZCU's lawyer, towards the one and only witness who did give evidence how the board wanted to play this. That witness had to be smuggled into the city as he feared ZCU officials would try to get to him first if they knew he was there. He only testified under what he believed were assurances that his identity would not be revealed. But his testimony was yesterday reported in full by the ICC itself. It is unlikely that witnesses will be so willing to come forward again.

The rebels overplayed their hand when they refused to give their evidence in front of the very ZCU officials who they were accusing. That angered the two members of the hearing panel, and in turn the hierarchy of the ICC. Their case was doomed from the moment the hearing was cancelled in chaos before it had really begun.

Instead, the ICC has presented the ZCU with a general endorsement of its policies. Some of those, aimed at genuine integration, are worthwhile and should be fully supported. But others are deeply divisive and will harm great sections of the community, and that means far more blacks than whites.

One senior Zimbabwean journalist told me last night: "The ZCU has been given licence to do whatever it sees fit without any accountability whatever. It is just the way of expediency, the easy option, because the ICC fears the backlash that might hit it, and also because it had no idea what appropriate action to take were it to find ZCU guilty."

The crowing of the two figures at the heart of the complaints - Ozias Bvute and Max Ebrahim - was as predictable as it was nauseating. "The allegations were clearly baseless ... I have always had a clear conscience in this matter," said Bvute, while Ebrahim added that he was "over the moon".

Both men were implicitly criticised in the report, but it is far from clear quite how the ICC will monitor that its own recommendations are being followed, or even if it can. The impression is that the ZCU is going to be left to get its own house in order; that's a bit like asking the foxes to guard the chicken coup. The ICC's clean bill of health would appear at first sight to sanction the ZCU carrying on, safe in the knowledge that anything it does will be outside the ICC's control - a purely domestic matter.

The ICC couldn't resist a swipe at those really responsible for Zimbabwe's ills - the media. "Anyone who has written, reported or published the accusations of racism within the ZCU is now obligated to study this report," Ehsan Mani, its president said, "and to respect and to take heed of the findings." In that that one dismissive sentence the word that really sticks in the craw is respect. Have the many instances of racism and intimidation levelled against board members been fabricated by both those reporting them and the media? Even if they haven't, it seems they don't count because the ICC says that they don't. Someone should tell Mani that respect is earned.

So, when England play Zimbabwe next month, the dignitaries in the ZCU's box will cheerfully exchange pleasantries and pretend that all is well. It might be in the world according to the ICC, but sadly a report saying everything is dandy doesn't mean that it is.