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Moneywise, and otherwise...

As in South Africa, cricket in Zimbabwe is a white man's preserve. An Olonga or a Mbangwa are more on the lines of decorative pieces. Social justice makes for good talk, but little else. Such talks are aimed at couching the ambition to retain control of cricket in this land.

Zimbabwe, like so many other African nations, is a nation of paradox. Only one million whites remain in this largely black-populated nation of 10 million -- but this small minority is the ruling class. They control most of the land, all of the industry. And the power of violence, too, is in their hands.

What then of the black? The same as it has been for centuries -- his lot is to serve. They still work on the farms and in the hotels.

Bulawayo, where I was hanging out, waiting for the Indian team's arrival earlier this week, has a "cricket supporters club" which is quite powerful in its own way, an extension of the game's ruling organ, if you please.

The club threw a party that first evening, with invitations being sent to both the teams, but the Indians decided to give it a miss. Only coach Anshuman Gaekwad and manager Dr. A. Patnantkar turned up at the venue, and that too for a brief appearance.

Perfectly understandable, since the side was dead tired after the long flight, and understandably loath to move out of their rooms.

The party was in a famous club in the centre of city, a small place which teemed with cricket officials, cricketers and umpires, not to speak of supporters for whom cricket is a case of social advancement.

In a sense, it was lucky the Indians didn't turn up -- the venue was packed anyway, and the party was in danger of busting at the seams. The Zimbabwean cricketers, in the company of their wives and/or girlfriends, worked up quite a bit of noise. Cricket was not much in the air, only a sense of fun, which all in all made it a lively evening.

Zimbabwean captain Alistair Campbell seems to have grown thicker around the waist since the triangular days in India in April this year. When asked about the state of cricket, Campbell frankly conceeded that his side was not making enough progress, at least not in the Test arena.

The trouble, says Campbell, is that there are only two clubs which supply the men for the national team. "Knowing the bench, we are not doing too badly either," quipped Campbell.

Still, Campbell felt cricket has overtaken rugby as the second sport, the top one being soccer. The skipper was of the view that change was around the corner, with schools finally kicking in to give the game a great push forward.

The fun and games -- and noise -- only inadequately covers a sense of unease among the dominant white community. An unease that is increasing thanks to proposals being put forward to chip away at their sprawling farms. Rubert Mugabe's government is on the brink of bankrupty, the US dollar has grown extremely lopsided in comparision with local currency, and unemployment is rising.

The government exceeded the prescribed domestic burrowing limit during the 1995-'96 fiscal year by 72.8 billion dollars without parliamentary approval as is required by law. It also failed to collect more than 2 billion dollars in revenue, this happening despite Zimbabwe being bound by the austere IMF/World Bank measures. Further, there is continued increase in domestic public debt, which was 52 billion dollars in 1996 and has now grown to over 90 billion dollars in two years time.

Every year the government prepares a budget and presents it with much fanfare, but there is never an independently audited financial report.

Another millstone around Mugabe's neck concerns the Congo, which is more towards central Africa and does not share any boundary with Zimbabwe. Right now, Congo is in the midst of a civil war. The Mugabe government is very keen that the insurgents do not retain control of Congo, and that the status quo remains, since Zimbabwe has made huge investment in exploring the gold mining option in that land. If insurgents come to power, Mugabe's investment, said to be around 7 billion Zimbabwean dollars, goes to zilch.

Elsewhere, Zimbabwe's next door neighbour, South Africa, is keen on propping up Lesotho's ruling government and has sent its troops across the border, only to have them quelled and killed, in dozens, since they underestimated the insurgents' resolve.

This is the canvas against which the cricket is being played, and to ensure that fans flock to the ground, a ticket costing 150 Zimbabwean dollars (a little over 4 dollars US) is being advertised on newspapers, television and radio.

Given the state of the economy here, I wonder how long it will be before some smart media baron decides to hold triangulars here. Costs are minimal, everything is cheap, and that makes for the ideal ODI venue -- so don't be surprised if, like Singapore, Toronto and Dhaka, Zimbabwe becomes another ODI venue on the cricketing map.