zimcricketnews.com

Zimbabwe Cricket's EGM went ahead on Friday & descended quickly into farce. The meeting had been called to approve the affiliation on five new provinces & the removal of the existing Country Districts provinces, a move expected to reinforce Peter Chingoka's hold on the Board, but yet again enough Board members stayed away to prevent a quorum from being formed - meaning that under the terms of ZC's consitution, no decision on the new provinces could be taken.

Mashonaland West chairman Themba Mliswa was present & immediately went on the offensive, calling on Chingoka to simply ignore the Board's constitution and force the decision through:

"A few years back, me and Chenjerai Hunzvi told the president to go against the constitution of Zimbabwe. We want to do what is just to the people of Zimbabwe. We cannot be guided by Rhodesian laws when we are in Zimbabwe. We are in a country that is black, and we rule. This is a train which cannot be stopped and we will get tough with whoever is in power to make sure that we cannot be stopped. We need a decision that has to go against the constitution. If this can't happen we will ask ZC to step aside, and we will find our way."

You'll note the clear racial tones in that statement. Chingoka refused to allow a non-consitutional vote to be taken, and is now facing calls for his removal from both sides of the current conflict. Mliswa has threatened to set up a rival governing body:

"To us, provinces like the Country Districts do not exist anymore. Let us not ignore the political aspect of this. And this is the decision. If you deny that, we will put up our own constitution and go to SRC and say this is the constitution of a Zimbabwe Cricket Federation and get affiliated."

Meanwhile, the SRC have submitted their report on the running of ZC to the Minister responsible, Aeneas Chigwedere, but Chigwedere has yet to give his approval to the SRC's plan to replace the current board with an interim one. At a time when cricket in Zimbabwe is in urgent need of help, the only people capable of providing it seem willing to sit back and watch while the game's governing body destroys itself.