ICC under fire

Stakeholders consider action against Zimbabwe board

Steven Price in Harare

March 25, 2008

A group calling itself Save Zimbabwe Cricket says it will study the recent results of a forensic audit of Zimbabwe Cricket accounts by KPMG South Africa and take legal action either in Zimbabwe or possibly abroad.

The group, which has support of some current ZC employees disgruntled by its management over its policy implantation and leadership style, has accused the ICC of taking the easy way out by claiming that no one benefited from the "serious financial irregularities" alleged by the report.

Said one of the group coordinators: "Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute will be happy, but in essence what the ICC has told the world is that Zimbabwe is not important to them and that the problems facing the game here do not impact in any way to the bigger picture and the overall governance of their organisation. They have continued to marginalise us. What the ICC has said is that Zimbabwe is not a key member of ICC, they have effectively said Zimbabwe can go to hell. That is why there is no urgency in dealing with the matter."

A legal adviser to the group believes ZC could still be held to account in the Zimbabwean courts. "Bear in mind that the ICC ruling is not a legal-binding verdict," he said. "I take it that the ICC acted on their organisational jurisdiction, and organisational interests, which is on face value, quite explicable. But that sort of action, or lack of it, must not be taken for a judgment."

Steven Price is a freelance journalist based in Harare

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