Robertson: 'Stop playing the race card'

Charlie Robertson, the firebrand chairman of the Mashonaland Country Districts Cricket Association, and leader of the provincial chairmen's group currently in an administration wrangle with the Zimbabwe Cricket board, has vowed to fight the abolishment of his association which has been the victim of a concerted media campaign by supporters of the board.

A pro-ZC action has been spearheading the formation, and eventual affiliation, of smaller associations and abolishment of the two country districts in Mashonaland and Matabeleland. "They can't do that," Robertson said. "They have to follow proper procedure. We have been in existence for 60 years and the ZC constitution clearly stipulates our boundaries."

The formation of new provinces looks on the surface to be an overdue idea as the game of cricket in Zimbabwe is in dire need of numbers. But the timing and political motive behind the move has raised eyebrows and discontent in Zimbabwe. The two existing country districts have been branded as being dominated by racialists by the pro board faction.

"This is not a race issue," Robertson shrugged. "People should stop playing the race card and using it as a smokescreen. Why is it that when people start asking pertinent questions it is turned into a race issue? This issue has gone beyond that. It's a case of transparency and accountability.

"If anyone says I am a racist, they are lying. I have been financing black cricketers in Kadoma for 10 years. If you go there, they will tell you about the good work we have been doing there. No one takes time to find out."

Robertson was one of the three new appointees to the ZC board a few weeks back, but he said he knew nothing about it beforehand. "I have heard about it from Alwyin Pichanick and through the press. But I will not sit on that board unless everything is squeaky clean. Under the laws of this country, people can go to jail on the allegations that are being leveled. I do not want to be part of that system.

"Poor administration is what is affecting our cricket. The people running cricket have no cricket background. Our team was being hammered in India, and the Under23s can't even compete against B sides in South Africa. The players can't perform when their minds are on the politics. We have to do something dramatic now, otherwise we will be dead and buried."

The media campaign against those looking to challenge the board continued over the weekend. An article in the Sunday Mail, which repeated claims the issue was predominantly about race and slammed key opponents of the board, quoted an ICC official as saying that the issue had to be dealt with internally. But enquiries to the ICC have revealed that it has not received the dossier from the chairmen, nor has any ICC representative spoken to anyone about it.