Racial tension on Zimbabwe board

Zimbabwe go into their series of two Tests against the West Indies, starting here tomorrow, against a troubling background of racial and administrative problems.

The latest manifestation followed last weekend's annual general meeting of the Mashonoland Cricket Association, the largest member of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), when ten black and Indian clubs pulled out and announced their intention to form a breakaway league.

Stephen Mangongo, a spokesman for the aggrieved clubs, charged that white members had used their 26-22 numerical advantage at the meeting to vote black nominees out of office.

We have Blacks who have done well in administration for Mashonoland and national cricket, as well as Indians, he said. And then to come and suddenly vote them out of office and look for some little black kids with no proven track record is against development.

Chief executive David Ellmann-Brown acknowledged yesterday that the ZCU, the governing body for Zimbabwe cricket, was concerned about the ramifications of the situation.

It is naturally worrying and we are attempting to put things together to reconcile the differences, he said.

Signs of trouble were evident in the first match of the triangular One-Day series June 23 when Heath Streak quit as captain over the composition of a six-member selection panel that excluded him and coach, former Australian fast bowler Carl Rackemann.

Streak relented when he and Rackemann were included. But it upset the equal racial balance of the panel and three non-white members quit. They returned when Streak's father, Dennis, resigned because of the conflict of interest. Rackemann has since announced he will quit his post next month to return to Australia.

A few days later, Andy Flower, the team's leading batsman and rated No.2 in the world rankings after an outstanding year in 2000, referred to problems within Zimbabwe cricket when receiving the Sportsman Of The Year award in Harare.

He claimed there were no racial difficulties within the Zimbabwe team our cricketers do not see colour and said it could be an example to the country at a time of racial, social and political conflict.

Peter Chinkoka, the black president of the ZCU, took issue with some of Flower's remarks, emphasising that it was vital faster progress be made on the integration of the majority black population into the game in Zimbabwe.