The decision by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to ban Zimbabwe cricketers from touring England next year as reported in The Sun newspaper of January 2, 2008 is very unfortunate and a terrible misunderstanding of African politics.
Cricket is not the people’s sport in Zimbabwe. It is just some form of employment for a few (formerly mainly whites until recently). Banning a cricket tour to England would not have any significant impact in the conduct of politics in Zimbabwe. It is however unfair punishment of those Zimbabwean cricketers on account of political activities in which they have no control. President Mugabe would probably gain some sympathy from some people who might consider Brown’s latest move as an attempt to isolate Zimbabweans not just their President.
Sport is actually meant to provide a front for people to present themselves in other forms, look at Benjani Mwariwari, and Didier Drogba telling the world what Africans can do. One can even conclude that banning sporting denies the Zimbabweans an opportunity to express themselves at the Lords. Just like Gordon Brown was afraid of being photographed sitting next to Mugabe, it is possible that his real difficulty is the English team being beaten by Zimbabwean cricketers like they did the Australians.
Gordon Brown suffers the problem of the worst case scenario arising from the recent Kenyan and Nigerian elections which makes it ridiculous to isolate Zimbabwe on the basis of disputed elections. While I do not intend to argue that any flawed election is acceptable, it makes no sense to single Zimbabwe for special mention. The only difference between political developments in Zimbabwe and other African countries like Kenya and Nigeria is the radical land reforms and it appears that Zimbabwe’s main sin was the land reforms. The death of Black Africans fighting each other, as is happening in Kenya, is not a big issue as long as they do not hurt a white man. One can conclude that there is something bordering on racism in Gordon Brown’s dealings with Africa.
Zimbabweans are beginning to realise that there is more than what meets the eye in Gordon Brown’s approach towards Zimbabwe. We know things are not going well in Zimbabwe at the moment, but we also know the turning point between the British government and the Zimbabwean government, the 2000 land reforms and the disputed elections. Since elections are disputed all over Africa let alone the world since then, the land issue appears to be the major point. Russia held disputed elections in 2007 prior to Alexander Litvinenko murder row with the UK government leading the British government expelling four Russian diplomats.
The point is simple, you may not agree with President Mugabe’s government but we should accept that the British government’s policies are hurting innocent people. It is clear that we have some illegal sanctions in place, this time against the Zimbabwean cricketers. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) needs to adopt a position on such matters of national interest if it is to dispel accusations that it panders to the wished of western countries. No country has ever succeeded under sanctions and Zimbabwe is not exception. We clearly have overt and covert sanctions against Zimbabwe.
