Zimbabwe Cricket's draft constitution rejected

Zimbabwe Cricket is again in trouble after it was revealed that the country's Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has refused to endorse its new draft constitution.

The SRC, a government-appointed body responsible for overseeing all sport inside Zimbabwe, is understood to have rejected the controversial constitution and asked ZC to re-draft some of the clauses. Sources close to the board have told Cricinfo that that the SRC is particularly unhappy with the way the constitution effectively rules out any challenge to the ruling elite.

It was the SRC who scrapped the old board in January and appointed Peter Chingoka to head an interim executive, with the proviso that a new constitution and fresh elections be organised by July 31. It is now believed that the tenure of the interim committee has been extended to December 31.

The Zimbabwe's Independent corroborated this, and claimed that it had seen a copy of a letter from Charles Nhemachena, the SRC's director general, to Ozias Bvute, ZC's general manager confirming that the draft constitution had been rejected. That was subsequently confirmed by a ZC spokesman.

Critics of the board had been deeply unhappy with the constitution, claiming that as over half of the executive would be unelected government appointees, it was simply not democratic. There was also understood to be a clause effectively barring anyone from tabling a motion of no confidence in the executive.

The source added that the fact the SRC had been able to challenge ZC - even though the new constitution gave more power to government - suggested that senior figures in the country were also unhappy with the way ZC was being run and were willing to allow the SRC to tackle the issue unchecked.