The truth according to the ZCU

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union's policy towards the media appears to be a simple one: If you repeat something often enough, it eventually becomes accepted as the truth.

In Harare today, Peter Chingoka faced the media to talk about the ZCU's recent meeting with the ICC in Dubai. Chingoka is often characterised as the acceptable face of a highly politicised board, although he is not quite as affable on the safety of his home turf as he sometimes appears abroad.

He opened by dismissing any suggestions that Zimbabwe's Test status had been revoked, painting the decision to suspend the four Tests they were due to play as a virtual ZCU initiative. It wasn't. Pakistan, who they were scheduled to meet twice, had already signalled that they were getting cold feet, and England's visit, even if took place, would have been a political hot potato. The ICC feared humiliations, and the erosion of Test cricket's "integrity", and so the compromise was struck.

A fortnight ago Chingoka insisted that "no-one is going to tell us how we should run our cricket", and now he chose to present a climbdown as something quite different. But the alternative would have been a vote at the full ICC executive board meeting later this month which would probably have formally suspended Zimbabwe.

On the subject of racism, Chingoka insisted that the accusations were "mischievously levelled against the board". As so many times before, he seeks to portray the board as the innocent victims in the whole affair.

The reality is that almost all the accusations against the board have been that they are politically, not racially, motivated. To the ZCU, the colour of a man's skin is not as important as what goes on in his head. There are far more instances of people being singled out for their views than for their colour, Henry Olonga being the most public case. It so happens that the majority of whites oppose the government - so, in fact, does the majority of the population of Zimbabwe. But in the eyes of the Mugabe government, which now effectively runs the ZCU, the whites are an easy and clearly identifiable enemy.

But it was when he was questioned as to why he wouldn't let the ICC mediate in the dispute that Chingoka opted for the board/government's second tactic: turn nasty when your argument is weak.

Asked why, if as the ZCU claims it is so sure that it is properly constituted and above suspicion, it would not allow the ICC to get involved, Chingoka asked the questioner exactly what was so serious about it.

"Surely the fact that half the Test side had walked out is serious," came the reply from the floor. Chingoka snapped that only four players had been lost (presumably the four named in the A side which played Sri Lanka), and then again defended the board's position. So, it seems the ZCU believes that the many talented players who have left the country in disgust or dismay in the last few years are not an issue ... let's pretend they and the 15 recent rebels went for reasons other than the way the game was being run.

And then Chingoka repeated that the board, the staff, and the academy were fully integrated. The numbers have been quoted before. The board might contain whites, blacks and Asians, but few doubt that all the power is held by two or three extremely political, government-appointed puppets. And the academy situation is interesting. In May's Wisden Cricketer Chingoka proudly wrote that "the intake of 16 for our academy programme this year includes seven white cricketers". My investigations have only thrown up one name. I have asked the board for the names of the other six.

The ZCU might, as Chingoka also claimed, be doing a fantastic job in promoting cricket among the population as a whole. We only have his word for that, as repeated offers by Wisden Cricinfo to the board for it to publicise all the good it is doing inside Zimbabwe have met with silence. The only things to consider are that the young players coming through are on the whole not good enough, and that almost none of the black population turns up to watch, even when Australia, the world champions, are the opposition. If the ZCU has fired up enthusiasm in the indigenous community, it's a well-disguised secret.

It seems that the ZCU will continue to peddle the same old half-truths and political rhetoric. Chingoka concluded by saying that the rebels would be welcomed back, safe in the knowledge that the make-up of the board and the politicised selection procedure means that even those who haven't fled for good almost certainly will not come back to play.

And so the ZCU meanders on, taking Zimbabwe cricket further towards the precipice, and meanwhile the ICC stays on the periphery and continues to dismiss the situation as a little local difficulty. It's hard to see anyone coming out of this sorry affair with any dignity intact.