#ZCBOARD MUST GO

[sam_ahm]

Why some of you are worried about retirements coming? If Zimbabwe get expelled then it doesn't matter whether players retire or not, they won't get to play cricket anyways.

And once again, why some of you are dissappointed at T20WC exclusion, it was already mentioned when ICC suspended Zimbabwe. You thought they were joking

[TapsC]

Corruption takes many forms Taps, but also don't let facts get in the way.

Mukhulani was part of the Bvute/Chingoka team in 04/05 that took over. That board went through an illegal constitution change, expelling of life members, and engaging in embezzlement and blatant racism. That in itself is enough grounds for such people to be banned from ZC for life.

Corruption also takes the form of unpaid salaries (players and staff). Remember that groundsmen for the WCQ were not paid from the ICC money allocated.

Instead of barking on about the failure to pay players, the terrible working conditions and support, the stolen funds used to pay wives and family, and the persistent abuse of racism, I am only going to ask, what about the ZC failing to follow their own constitution in the recent election they had?

They broke rules of their own constitution. Does that not smack of corruption and a need for investigation?

You say you do not support the board, yet at every opportunity to fight against them, you have not. You are a supporter of them on Facebook, and on this forum, even after Mukhulani has said that he does not care about the sport, the game and the development of it. He has blatantly said he has better things to do and that should be the first sign that this man does not have the players nor the game at heart.

Lol I dont use my social media to talk about these issues. Thats not me. I can promise you that. I barely use facebook anymore. Maybe this is why you are always on my case. Thats not me bro.

Interesting fact do you know Mukuhlani is actually the guy who put the current ZC consitution together? Sad that he would even think of violating it if he did

As I said. I am getting lost in paragraphs now. My only message from now is THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT

[TapsC]

Why some of you are worried about retirements coming? If Zimbabwe get expelled then it doesn't matter whether players retire or not, they won't get to play cricket anyways.

And once again, why some of you are dissappointed at T20WC exclusion, it was already mentioned when ICC suspended Zimbabwe. You thought they were joking

It might be the perfect time to rebuild actually. retire old players on big contracts and bring in the likes of Murray Matigimu etc. (Btw the reason why I dont support this board is because I believe they are not capable of leading a rebuild)

[zimbos_05]

Lol I dont use my social media to talk about these issues. Thats not me. I can promise you that. I barely use facebook anymore. Maybe this is why you are always on my case. Thats not me bro.

Interesting fact do you know Mukuhlani is actually the guy who put the current ZC consitution together? Sad that he would even think of violating it if he did

As I said. I am getting lost in paragraphs now. My only message from now is THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT

I'm talking about Facebook from a while ago. I stopped viewing those pages ago.

I'm not always on your case, it's just very interesting how you claim to not be a fan of the board, yet your words say otherwise.

I'm aware of how the constitution was constructed and by who, but he broke it. The constitution states that for an election, an agenda must be published and that candidates must have an opportunity to be appointed. It also states that the meeting can be postponed if fears of irregularities are noticed.

Neither of the first two happened, and fears of irregularities were cited and ignored. So you tell me, a man from ZANU PF, a party that has lied to its people for decades and stolen from them, and has changed a constitution to suit his interests, why would I have reason to trust him?

When the same crap continues, eventually people are going to take drastic measures.

[encore]

BRM, ZIMDOGGY, Jemisi and jaybro waiting in Melbourne for sloandog, Crimson and maehara ahead of Zimbabwe's first Test back.

"We finally got Full Membership back. It was worth the wait. That Mukuhlani guy got what he deserved." says ZIMDOGGY defiantly
"Yeah. Although I'm told the new Chairman Utseya who was appointed by Sports Minster Chigumbura, totally rejected Nick Welch's offer to see off his years with the side, and Coach Maruma was ok with it." remarks BRM
"Really?" exclaims Jemisi
"#%@!%@# #!@%#" retorts jaybro. "We need to get Cremer and Williams in there quick."
"I believe Williams has been the MD for the past year." says BRM sharply. "He's arranging security for the team in Lahore. They're off there next."

[ZIMDOGGY]

BRM, ZIMDOGGY, Jemisi and jaybro waiting in Melbourne for sloandog, Crimson and maehara ahead of Zimbabwe's first Test back.

"We finally got Full Membership back. It was worth the wait. That Mukuhlani guy got what he deserved." says ZIMDOGGY defiantly
"Yeah. Although I'm told the new Chairman Utseya who was appointed by Sports Minster Chigumbura, totally rejected Nick Welch's offer to see off his years with the side, and Coach Maruma was ok with it." remarks BRM
"Really?" exclaims Jemisi
"#%@!%@# #!@%#" retorts jaybro. "We need to get Cremer and Williams in there quick."
"I believe Williams has been the MD for the past year." says BRM sharply. "He's arranging security for the team in Lahore. They're off there next."

I think Jemisi is the only person here over the age of 40.

[Jemisi]

I had a net the other day and my knee felt like those guys look.

[kudet]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id ... we-cricket
What now, Zimbabwe? What would Dambudzo Marechera do? "When all else fails, don't take it in silence: scream like hell, scream like Jericho was tumbling down, serenaded by a brace of trombones, scream," wrote the quintessential Zimbabwean writer in The House of Hunger, the seminal work of the Zimbabwean condition. The Zimbabwean cricket community, players and fans alike, have let out a collective scream in the past 24 hours.

It's not the end of the world, but the ICC's announcement that Zimbabwe's spots at the men's and women's World T20 Qualifiers have been handed to Nigeria and Namibia effectively removes the raison d'être for the country's national squads. It's impossible to escape the feeling that this is an ending. That a door has been slammed shut.

The full wrath of the collective punishment meted out to Zimbabwean administrators, players and umpires alike is just one more thing that these people now have to deal with, along with everything else in this beguiling, broken nation.

Zimbabwe is a country of contradictions that will break your heart with its cruelty and mend it with its beauty. The malfeasance of its politics is beyond satire, the resilience of its citizens beyond reproach. It is both the best and the worst place in the world to live.

When the apocalypse hits, it will be months before anything actually changes in Zimbabwe. "Off-grid" is a fact of life rather than a luxury here. There are parts of the capital city, Harare, that have not seen running municipal water this millennium. Residents endure daily blackouts that last up to 18 hours at a time. There are shortages of medicine, fuel and banknotes, and inflation is out of control. Still, if you've got a bit of cash, it's a wonderful place to live. Head uptown and you might see a Lamborghini cruising up a potholed street, or queuing for fuel, like everyone else.

ALSO READ: Explainer: Zimbabwe's suspension and its implications

In 2017 there was a coup, joyfully received by the public, who took to the streets en masse to fist-bump soldiers on armoured vehicles and pose for selfies. In 2018, six people were shot dead on the same streets by the same soldiers when the celebration turned into protest.

This is the reality that Zimbabwean cricketers (now possibly ex-cricketers) live with. Although they are among the 1% in their country, their situation is almost unthinkable for most players in other Full Member nations, let alone the likes of David Warner or Virat Kohli at the top end of the game.

Kohli played 14 IPL games last season. For that, he was paid roughly US$2.5 million. That works out to about $178,000 per game. Last season Zimbabwean franchise cricketers were paid a daily stipend of $10. Under suspension, Zimbabwe will not be able to stage a domestic season this year and those meagre amounts will also be taken away, along with everything else, in a country where most are living hand to mouth. Already, no one has been paid since June. It's hard to envisage a better way to kill the game outright in Zimbabwe.

In fact, I couldn't have devised a better way if I'd sat down and planned it myself. It did not have to be like this. Ask Nepal. Ask the USA. While you're at it, it's also worth asking how many members there really are, especially in Asia, where governments aren't in some way involved in cricket administration.

"There is not limited space in international cricket. There is not a shortage of money. But there is elitism, duplicitousness, wagon-circling and massive concentration of wealth"
Closer to home, when Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe was asked about the reasons for South Africa's restructure earlier this week, he remarked that one of the motivations for it was that the South African government's push to transform their sport had resulted in him fielding awkward questions and offering lengthy explanations at ICC chief executives' meetings as to why CSA should not themselves be suspended or penalised over transformation selection guidelines. Evidently some types of political interference are more acceptable than others.

The ICC works with members "to grow the sport", reads the very first line of the About section on their website. "We will grow the sport by creating more opportunities for more people and nations to enjoy it," adds their vision statement. If someone could show me how making hundreds of people unemployed, making damn sure no Zimbabwean cricketers get paid for half a year, disinvesting millions of dollars from an already impoverished nation, and stopping a squad of trailblazing women from fighting their way into their first global tournament is growing cricket, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Yes, Zimbabwe's demise means that Namibia's women will be given a chance, and that Nigeria's rapid rise in Associate cricket continues apace. But the progress of one nation need not come at the expense of the other. There is not limited space in international cricket. There is not a shortage of money. But there is elitism, duplicitousness, wagon-circling and massive concentration of wealth. The story of our time, right?

If this is the end, then - friends, cricket fans, Zimbabweans - what are we left with? We've seen things you wouldn't believe. Olonga's triple-wicket miracle in the 1999 World Cup, which marks the exact moment, 20 years ago, that I fell in love with this game. Andy Flower's double (and Andy and Grant's double trouble). Eddo's hat-trick. Prosper Utseya's too, hanging them on the breeze and then dropping to the ground to revel in the moment with arms and legs in the air, like an upturned beetle.

ALSO READ: 'There has been no government interference' - Zimbabwe minister of sport

And more. Utseya, again, shellacking Mitchell Starc miles over wide long-on, and holding the pose, to turn the Aussies over in an ODI for the first time since '83. And speaking of '83: Duncan Fletcher and his mulleted, flannelled pioneers. Taylor's rapturous last-ball six off Mashrafe at HSC back in '06. The whole squad arm in arm at the boundary's edge as Taylor took them home and the heavens opened at Newlands in '07. Streaky's outswinger. Strangy's wrong'un. Vusi Sibanda's cover drive, all clear lines and torque, like an Italian supercar. Hamilton's teenage ton. The parsimonious purity of a Traicos offbreak. Harare Sports Club in full voice. You had to be there. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Between times, there have been many, many bad decisions made in the running of Zimbabwean cricket over the years. Countless instances of government, politicians and politics twisting the sport to suit changing agendas, of self-interest overtaking unity among the players. In hindsight, the SRC's recent decisions, riding roughshod to sort it all out, don't look great either. And nor do the ICC's, which have heaped trouble on trouble.

It's time for everyone to start making good decisions. Zimbabwe's absence from the World T20 is not the end of the world. But expulsion will be.

[robbocricket]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id ... we-cricket

Zimbabwe is a country of contradictions that will break your heart with its cruelty and mend it with its beauty. The malfeasance of its politics is beyond satire, the resilience of its citizens beyond reproach. It is both the best and the worst place in the world to live.

When the apocalypse hits, it will be months before anything actually changes in Zimbabwe. "Off-grid" is a fact of life rather than a luxury here. There are parts of the capital city, Harare, that have not seen running municipal water this millennium. Residents endure daily blackouts that last up to 18 hours at a time. There are shortages of medicine, fuel and banknotes, and inflation is out of control. Still, if you've got a bit of cash, it's a wonderful place to live. Head uptown and you might see a Lamborghini cruising up a potholed street, or queuing for fuel, like everyone else.

It's time for everyone to start making good decisions. Zimbabwe's absence from the World T20 is not the end of the world. But expulsion will be.

Cathy Buckle (Zimbabwean writer) sums up the current state of things in Zim very well - how any sport survives in Zim to those of us who don't live in Zim seems a miracle

A year ago last week Zimbabwe was brought to its knees when army trucks and tanks rolled into the capital city of Harare and soldiers armed with assault rifles and live ammunition, opened fire on unarmed civilians and killed in cold blood: Ishmael Kumire (41), Silvia Maphosa (53), Gavin Dean Charles (45), Brian Zhuwao (26), Jealous Chikandira (21) and Challenge Tauro (20). We will never forget, and the world’s media who witnessed this abomination first hand, will never forget, the horrific image of a soldier kneeling on the tarmac in the centre of Harare, taking aim and shooting repeatedly at terrified civilians who were running away. Some of the fleeing civilians were shot in the back and at least 35 bystanders were seriously injured.

One year later, despite a lengthy and expensive Commission of Inquiry into the shootings of civilians by soldiers; despite perpetrators being identified in the press and on scores of social media videos and photos, no one has yet been held to account for this horror. The Army General who commanded the troops accused of killing six civilians on 1 August 2018, retired and was then appointed as the Ambassador designate to Tanzania. Rtd General Sanyatwe, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador designate to Tanzania, was this week put on the USA sanctions list but has yet to be held to account in Zimbabwe.

The events of one year ago marked the turning point for our country. Disputed elections were again tearing our country apart but on that day we were shown, in the most brutal, graphic manner, what lay ahead for us if we dared to protest. Before 2018 protestors had to contend with riot police, tear gas and rubber batons but after the 1st of August 2018 this changed to armed soldiers with live ammunition. Soldiers returned to our streets in towns and cities across the country in February 2019 after protests against the increase in fuel prices from $1.31 to $3.31. The government switched the internet off to the whole country, twelve people were killed, others brutalized and raped and for those atrocities also, no one has been held to account.

In the months that have followed, the Zimbabwe that we know and love has become the Zimbabwe that we don’t know how to survive. In February the government converted all our US dollars to Zimbabwe bond dollars. In May they increased the price of fuel from $3.31 to $5.00 a litre. On July 15 fuel went up to $5.84 a litre. On July 22 it went up to $7.47 a litre.

With each fuel increase the prices of everything go up and as people become ever more desperate to survive, the authorities meet our pain and despair with threats of soldiers should we dare to protest. Last week the deputy minister for war veterans, Victor Mantemadanda, said: ”Our constitution allows us to send soldiers and they do not use minimum force, they don’t know it; they are trained to kill. So forewarned is forearmed, stay at home lest you be caught in the crossfire, so run away when protests start.”

Regardless of the threats of soldiers who “are trained to kill” if we dare to protest, there is no stopping inflation. In May inflation was 97%, in June it was 175% and this week the Minister of Finance announced that annual inflation figures would no longer be released every month and said no new figures would be announced until February 2020. Announce the figures or not Mr minister, our shopping baskets are getting lighter and our bills getting higher every day so you can hide the numbers but not the facts.

Last week a 2kg bag of sugar was $11; today it is $17, that one fact says it all.

This week the Minister of Finance announced a tripling in the price of electricity for domestic consumers from 9 to 27 cents per kilowatt hour. The minister also announced that all vehicle licence fees and all toll gate fees are to increase by 400% with immediate effect. Toll gate fees have increased from 2 to 10 Zimbabwe dollars for light vehicles, from 3 to 15 dollars for minibuses and from 5 to 25 dollars for heavy vehicles.

There are no feasible alternate routes for motorists to use to avoid toll gates, no exemptions for food trucks, public transporters, school buses or commuters. The only free passes through Zimbabwe’s toll gates are for members of Zimbabwe’s government, their departments and ministry’s. The impact of these 400% increases together with monthly fuel price rises and tripling of electricity tariffs will send inflation spiralling out of control, whether authorities release the inflation figures or not.

This August 2019 there is absolutely no compassion or empathy being afforded by authorities for the immense struggle of people in all walks of life. Everywhere people say there’s no point going to work anymore. One man I met this week said “we are working for free”. Salaries are not going up to match price increases. Soldiers, for example, who are “trained to kill” were earning around US$500 in February 2019 and that is now only worth US$50, barely enough to survive a week.


What’s next Zimbabwe? That’s what we all want to know. As I write this letter on a cold and windy end of winter day, a Blackshouldered Kite is patrolling the skies, hovering mid air above a morsel of paralyzed prey below and I realise that we, Zimbabwe, are the paralyzed prey waiting for something, anything that will remove the predator.

[Googly]

They’re not going anywhere. Even if one day there’s a government of National unity or even if by a miracle MDC were to win an election in the distant future they will all be the same. The system has been engineered so that the people in power control absolutely with no checks and balances whatsoever and once you’re in control why would you want to change that? I really don’t know why they bother with elections, people just get killed and everyone knows they’re a sham to fool the West. If it weren’t for their insistence on the façade of democracy we wouldn’t even have 6 months of murder and intimidation every cycle. We’d have succession of the throne...oh I guess that’s what we do have.
The Holy Grail is to become a politician by whatever means possible and then your ship has arrived. That will never ever change in Africa.
Zimbabwe is a tough place at the moment and there is honestly no end in sight to all of this. This government and their policies cannot ever fix the insurmountable problems we face and they’re just going to get worse and that’s the God’s honest truth. I don’t think anyone knows what the end game is here, if there even is an end game. We are proof that we can limp along forever without fuel, without a proper currency and without electricity and water. It has become the norm and people complain bitterly but seem to have accepted it.