Bitten from behind
Just when it seemed that Peter Chingoka had weathered the storm of internal discontent, his own attack poodle has turned and bitten him where it hurts
Steven Price in Harare
05-Oct-2006
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At a press conference in Harare , Themba Mliswa threw down the gauntlet and issued a direct threat that he was out to topple the current regime. Around him he appears to be assembling a variety of discontents. Not the same ones who have been banging on about the worst excesses of Zimbabwe Cricket for more than two years, but a new group of those who were brought in to replace them and who have already found themselves isolated.
Many have tried to knock Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, his sidekick, off their perches in the last couple of years, but like Robert Mugabe himself, the pair have not only survived but seemingly come back stronger each time.
In July, Percy Sonn, the new ICC president and reportedly a close friend of Chingoka, travelled to carry out a fact-finding mission. He met with a number of people, including many former players and administrators who opposed the regime. While the results won't be unveiled until the ICC executive meets in Mumbai next month, few will hold their breath for anything other than ZC to be given a cleanish bill of health. Those stakeholders I spoke to before Sonn set foot in Zimbabwe indicated that they anticipated no other outcome.
That, and a new constitution so warped as to be comical, should have given Chingoka the ability to carry on regardless. In fairness, Zimbabwe cricket, so long in the doldrums, has shown signs of life in recent months and a number of former absentees have begun to drift back. It's also expected that Tatenda Taibu will join their number soon after being rebuffed in his attempts to become a South African player, especially as Mliswa flagged that the pair had made up their differences.
But unlike those who have previously stood and fallen in their attempts to remove Chingoka, Mliswa is a different kettle of fish. He has little cricket-related baggage. A political activist with a record of ruthlessness and close links to the ruling Zanu PF party, he boasts - and few consider them to be idle - of having the ear of people in the cabinet.
There is also talk that he is related to Didymus Mutasa, the country's ruthless National Security minister. If so, then Chingoka should be worried by Mliswa's claim that he has the support of the "highest authorities". Mutasa has been cited for acts of extreme violence and is one of the hardest of the hardliners in the government, ruthlessly and remorselessly crushing anyone who opposes him.
The ICC hierarchy might also be shifting uneasily in their seats. In Chingoka they have someone they know and can deal with, the acceptable face of an unacceptable regime. If he goes, then they may find themselves dealing with people who have little to offer in terms of cricket knowledge but much in terms of political dogma.
While Chingoka's continuing presence is unpalatable to many people, there seems little point in replacing him unless there is a better option on the table. History does not suggest that Mliswa will do anything other than drag a brittle structure down into the mire of the politics that has destroyed almost every other walk of life in the country.
A year ago this month he disrupted a meeting of provincial chairmen in Harare , shouting that he did so, according to Charlie Robertson, the veteran administrator and the meeting's chairman, as he was " from the office of State Security from the office of Mr Mutasa". He then dismissed one representative as a " f****** white Rhodesian" adding: "We have taken the farms, now we are going to take cricket." He concluded by boasting that the army was going to take over cricket and finished with the threat: "We are here to destroy cricket".
On the surface Mliswa is rational and plausible. But under the surface, he epitomises the worst excesses of a regime that has little respect for anyone. As Chingoka has now discovered, be careful what you wish for.