Sending a South African cricket team, among them top international players Boeta Dippenaar, Ashwell Prince, Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt, is also sending a message to the world that we will visit a place Australia's government recently barred their cricketers from touring on grounds of human-rights violations.

The confusing part is that Arendse, who was elected to the CSA hot seat at the weekend, and then delivered an emotional speech - including a tribute to his father - regarding a disadvantaged background, has not come out against the tour. Arendse knows about the struggle for normality in South Africa, but he now heads an association that is endorsing a cricket tour of Robert Mugabe's country.

At the 2003 World Cup, Henry Olonga and Andy Flower famously wore black armbands to protest the "death of democracy" in their country. They were Zimbabweans, one black, one white. Now they dare not set foot in their homeland for fear of being taken to a dark dungeon by Mugabe's violent henchmen.

Yet from yesterday, the South Africa 'A' team has been at the Harare Sports Club, where there will be plenty to eat and drink. A crisp cover-drive's distance from there the shelves in shops are empty and people are starving. Police will assault many, others will be dying - physically and metaphorically.

Australia's government took a stand in May, but no one really expected South Africa's Thabo Mbeki to step in and withdraw our cricketers from this tour. Quiet diplomacy and all that. So shouldn't the governing body, CSA, act independently? And never mind the fear of "disciplining from the ICC", of which, incidentally, Ray Mali, a South African, is caretaker president?

CSA might argue it doesn't interfere in wider politics. Which is ironic considering the level to which sport and politics are entwined in South Africa. Hardly a day goes by without calls from as high as government level threatening to enforce player quotas in Springbok rugby.

In 2003 Errol Stewart was made captain of a South Africa A side to tour Zimbabwe. He withdrew on the grounds that he felt it morally wrong to tour a country so ravaged and whose people were being starved and murdered by the Mugabe government. The chief executive of what was then the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Gerald Majola (he remains in the same capacity in CSA), issued a statement "instructing selectors not to consider the KwaZulu-Natal wicketkeeper-batsman for any future representative teams".

The problem with sport and politics is that the goalposts keep moving and the rules change depending on who is playing the game. I'm reminded of that first discussion with Ramsamy and wonder if he too agrees we should be sending a sports team to play there.

Gary Lemke is sports editor of the Cape Argus newspaper in Cape Town

The SAfrican tour of Zimbabwe is a disgrace and the one country in the world who should refuse to do anything to support the Mugabe regime is South Africa in view of their own struggles in the past. By their innaction South Africa and anyone else who tours Zimbabwe are without DOUBT supporting a dictatorial and Power Mad regime.

Neither South Africa nor India should have sent their A teams to Zimbabwe.

I think it is wrong to make comparisons between South Africa during apartheid and Zimbabwe under Mugabe. Under apartheid it became illegal for blacks to play cricket with whites. Once certain laws were lifted poverty ensured that first class cricket remained in white hands and the 'no normal sport in an abnormal society' slogan was launched. Hassan Howa, attributed for devising this strategy was clear about what he meant by normal - an end to racist government that directly impacted on playing cricket. Zimbabwe cricket is still played by both black and white players. The Mugabe regime is abhorent, but so is Musharraf's in Pakistan and I don't hear anyone calling for sanctions against Pakistan. Is it strange that South Africa should be supporting Zimbabwe? No. Who provided support for the ANC and the non-racial sporting movement in the 1970s and the 1980s? The Zimbabweans were engaged in a similar struggle to end white minority dictatorial rule in their country. The (mostly white) cricketing authorities sat on their hands and cried crocodile tears while many of their leading players went on rebel tours that did a lot to maintain the credibility of the apartheid regime.

I am from Zimbabwe and while I was there I did as I was told or else. I am sure the South African cricket team are doing as they are told or else.

All that the SA A side tour of zimbabwe does is give Mugabe mor efuel for his irrational and insane idea that he alone is right and the rest of the world are just picking on him because of the colour of his skin. With the way that he deals with anyone who opposes his warped sense of reality you would think that CSA would have stood up and said that they wouldn't go. It is not an unexpected action, the tour, when the leaders in SA don't do any thing to stop this despot from killing his country. The stand taken by Cricket Australia and the support by the government over not touring is to be commended and should be the stand taken by all cricket authorities and their countries governments. As long as even one team tours Mugabe will believe that what he is doing is right. It is time that the ICC banned tours to and from Zimbabwe.

South Africa's decision to send a team to Zimbabwe is disgusting and reeks of hypocrisy considering what their president is doing to that country.
ICC's decision to remain quiet on that issue is equally sick. Zimbabwe should have been stripped of the power to play all levels of Official Cricket long ago

I think what we have here is a parodox in it's own right. I cannot deny the injustice of Mugabe's regime, nor the apalling contradiction the CSA have applied in their own treatment/facilitation of this tour. However, I have never been a fan of sport sanctions, and I do believe that if a countries inhabitants are both starving and being inhumanely treated, that it would be a terrible sacriledge to deny them of entertainment? I think that by banning all sport in Zimbabwe the ultimate people who suffer the most are the common people. The players of the game, the lovers of the game. Not the fat-cat beauricrats. I say let them play. Do not deny these troubled people a last morsel of pleasure, for by stopping this, you may as well prohibit music and dancing.

Until human rights abuses cease in Zimbabwe, no country should allow their sporting teams to tour that country.
Not only Australia had the good sense to not allow their cricket team to tour Zimbabwe but the West Indies cricket A-team also did not tour because the players protested.

As a South African I am appalled and embarrassed by the tour. It makes a mockery of the moral high ground assumed by our political and sporting leaders, not that there appears to be much distinction between the two anymore. I would like to appeal to the ICC to do what is right – impose a ban on Zimbabwe and anyone touring or playing against them.

As pointed out in your article, South Africa were banned on the grounds of a political policy that discriminated against certain citizens, a situation that is replicated in Zimbabwe although granted the divide is not one of colour. How the world, and the ICC, can stand by doing nothing is sickening. Thank God the Australians have the balls to do the right thing.

It really is a disgrace to see that after all that happened in South Africa over the years that such a double standard is practiced now. It really is a shame.
Martin
Antigua

I am an Englishman living in South Africa.The tour to Zimbabwe is totally against all that decent people should support on moral grounds. It will do nothing to help the people of Zimbabwe, and should further convince the ICC that South African Cricket authorities have completely the wrong policies. In particular the proposal of racial quotas is nonsense, and I hope the other Test playing nations refuse to play against any side that is not selected completely on merit. As an Australian,or Indian or any other nationality I would be insulted to have to play against a 'second' team as recently happened in the rugby world. Players should earn their place, not have it handed to them by political doctrine.

The ICC does not have a spine, that we know. Right now sending any team to Zimbabwe is wrong not only on moral grounds but on the grounds of professional pride of players as well; both Zimbabweans and the the teams that they face. No player would like his record enhanced by playing meaningless matches against Zimbabwe. A better way to make sure that cricket survives in Zimbabwe is by making sure that national associations draft those players representing Zimbabwe in their local sides as professionals or on some of their developmental teams. This would help Zimbabwe cricket in the long run because the domestic cricket structure in Zimbabwe is a sham.

I have read Jon Gemmel's comment. Is it so wrong to make a comparison between apartheid South Africa and Mugabe's Zimbabwe? I guess that the difference is that the racial divide in apartheid SA was pretty clear cut, whereas Mugabe has ranted against whites (and the West) but has victimised a far greater spread of people. I lived and played cricket in Zimbabwe in the 80s and 90s. I don't recall any Zimbabwean cricketers being involved in rebel tours to SA.

I was very shock to read about the tour by a South African team inclusive of a few premier players to Zimbabwe. I was disappointed especially after the forthright and indirect stance of the ACB and the WICB respectively in cancelling their tours to Zimbabwe. It is difficult to separate sports from politics especially where the sport is an established in the international arena. The non-participatory impact of the cancellation of future tours may not be direct but it can go a long way toward adding to the internal and external opposition to the dictatorial politics of Mugabe.

I was born in Zimbabwe and spent most of my life there. I have relocated for obvious reasons and am abhorred and horrified by the decision by the cricket authorities in South Africa to send a team (any team) to Zimbabwe while that disgusting little person is in power.
The suffering by the common man in the street will not be alleviated by the tour as he cannot afford a TV let alone a license if he had one, cannot afford the ticket cost to see the match, cannot afford the school fees where he or his children would be exposed to the game of cricket, cannot afford the bus fare to get to the cricket ground and if he had a car he could not get the fuel needed.

When will someone in authority in South Africa wake up to the reality of the situation?

It's incredible that a journalist can be this dumb, but not surprising that he can be so hypocritical. Indeed, nowadays it is apparently expected to be critical of even that which is barely worth the twitch of our eyebrows. If anything, we here in Zimbabwe are positively wetting ourself with excitement over the possibility of watching the South African cricket team --- and I ain't none of the "elite". If all this is sincere concern for our welfare in Zimbabwe, I challenge you, Mr Gommel, to author a similar piece when the South African football team is due to play in Zimbabwe.

Leave politics out of sport! The sport boycott did not end apartheid, economic sanctions and political pressure did.
I am a firm believer in the integrity of sportsmen and women and believe they should make up their own minds without fear of future sanction by their governing bodies. Sport should be run by the athletes who put fair play above all else.

As a former resident and cricket player in Zimbabwe I watch the situation with great concern yet also consideration.

During the "apartheid" days there was a sense of recognition that we (cricket lovers) paid the price for a government policy that discriminated... yet those of us who were willing to play cricket against anybody of any race were punished by the boycott.

However people were not being starved, discriminated against, oppressed and killed as is the case in this paradigm.

If on the one hand, governments could intervene and could stop tours for what was perceived as discrimination, they should not hesitate to react against the tragedy now unfolding through this regime.

The tour to Zimbabwe is completely justifiable. Sporting isolation will not do for Zim what it did for S Africa (SA), Zim isn't sufficiently important within the international system (in all honesty). The SA comparison is absolutely ridiculous, as it was the policy of the government of the day in SA to categorically discriminate against non-whites in all walks of life. The world (I mean Aus/UK/NZ, all maintained good economic ties) did nothing to stop this discrimination! Regime change can only be brought about in one of two major ways, either we have an 'Iraq' style invasion or direct economic sanctions (even that fails). Will the Aus/UK/NZ govt reconsider sending their Olympic teams to the bastion of human rights values which is China?! I think not! Cutting of sporting ties will decimate the already falling standards of cricket in the country. The cricketing fraternity need to support Zim cricket and tackle some of its inherent structural problems, and let the people of Zim resolve their problems with Mugabe over time. I suggest the colonial mentality of some of these cricinfo readers need to greatly enlightened!!

It shows a complete lack of principle on the part of the SA government and its cricket bosses. This tour is the height of hypocrisy.

My argument at the time of the World Cup of 2003 was that England and other teams should visit Zimbabwe, because what they did would make not the slightest practical difference to the government and the only ones to suffer would be the cricket community. Things have changed since then, because cricket administration has passed into the hands of corrupt politicians who have alienated the players and expelled virtually everybody from administration who is likely to disagree with them, in true totalitarian fashion - even the best black administrators have gone, mostly having resigned in disgust. I say Zimbabwe Cricket should be suspended from the ICC until it is run by an administration that is able to win the support of players and stakeholders, that is non-racial and non-political. In other words, the boycott should be aimed at cricket reform, not political reform which it is powerless to affect. Unfortunately the suspension won't happen because certain ICC countries have a vested political interest in the Chingoka/Bvute regime, which they can rely on to vote with them on ICC decisions! But if you took away the money that is still flooding into ZC, it will not be long before those who have been using cricket in Zimbabwe for their own benefit will decide to withdraw, and hopefully cricket in Zimbabwe may again be ruled by those with the good of the game at heart. If or when that happens, cricket in the country will need every bit of support the rest of the cricketing world can give it, whatever government is in power.

Is world cricket really so strong that we can let one of the worlds top 10 nations fall into disrepair. Yes, the Zimbabwean economy is in ruins and the Government holding on by its fingertips - that is not the fault of the Zimbabwean team and their families. We should be wishing for Zimbabwean success at the 20/20 and giving praise to Kevin Curran and the Zimbabwean board for holding together some semblance of normalcy in a crazy country. They are persevering with a team of youngsters that have genuine talent (Utseya, Taibu, Chigumbura) and can be strong again - if they are allowed to grow.

Pedestals, power and pleasure.

Not for one moment would one expect the high and mighty comrade to stoop to such depths of acknowledging any Zimbabwean abnormalities. Having struggled so hard to get to the top of the pedestal of one of our top sports in South Africa, with a little help from other equally willing comrades that is, there is no chance of him now rocking his secure and no doubt plush position. Anyway, it's common knowledge that these matches have been sanctioned by the even mightier than he ICC. Surely we all know that Zim is a fully fledged member of the international cricketing community and therefore, it's OK! For the rest of what Zimbabwe is all about? Who cares. For the three dozen spectators, two dozen members on the field and all the back-up boys in the dressing room, all's well that end's well, hey? I mean they've all eaten a good breakfast, had a cuppa or two already and probably looking forward to lunch, even if they had to bring their own. As for the hoards outside? Well says Arendse, it's simply not cricket, is it. No it is certainly not. Rather, it is communism of the Marxixt/Leninist variety. Well, as Arendse was basking in the sun of this lovely quant little stadium looking for someone to acquant, he comes across this little lad, whose little tummy keeps rumbling, and congratulates him for his support, along with the rest of this little class. Not to let the opportunity slip by for defending his position (which lawyer worth his salt would), not that he feels guilty now, on why playing Zimbabwe is so important. He continues, " You see lad the problem actually lies with all those disloyal sods of citizens outside the stadium. Can't they just simply accept the fact that this is how life should be lived. This is as good as it gets, lad. Your president, that most honest and dignified gentlemen might just be right. Correction, he IS right. Instead of them complaining and jumping over frontier fences they should be at the ground sitting alongside you today. Look at that chap in the middle of the field, the umpire that is, as one team shouts loudly and throws up their arms he slowly lifts his finger and the batsman simply and obediently walks of the field of play. If he doesn't, he gets a big fine and can even be banned from any future game. That is exactly how it is, no questions asked. So you see if you question, shout or raise your hands to your great umpire, the president that is, you too can get into big trouble, OK? That's how it is, simple and plain. That's why I keep telling my fellow countrymen back in Protealand that one cannot have abnormal cricket in a normal society. You just don't question the umpire, got it?" Meekly the lad shakes his head in a sort of agreement. Turning to his friend they decide to make a duck for it out of the stadium and a long, long walk home to their rather humble dwelling. Oh dear, the gates have been closed from the inside and they can't get out. After some time they decide to climb the fence, which they do with a bit of a struggle, knowing full well that this little exercise might come in handy in the near future for both of them.

I agree with most if not all the comments made so far except with Jon Gemmel. The issue with Zimbabwe isn't so much a racial issue as in between black and white but more in the line of tribe differences, if you are against him you suffer nomatter if you're black or white. I believe CSA made a huge mistake in sending a 'A' team (they shouldn't even allow a club team to tour there) but it is wrong to criticise just CSA or BCCI or ICC. What about the other sport like rugby, soccer etc. So before the whole sporting world don't BAN zimbabwe and more pressure applied by us the FREE PEOPLE of the world on our goverments to fully BAN zimbabwe from everything, nothing will happen. WE THE PEOPLE of South Africa, Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, New Zealand, England, France, Russia, Japan and all the other FREE countries in the world must unite and pressure zimbabwe into submission.

The problem is in the definition of 'normal'. President Mugabe will tell you that things are 'normal' in Zimbabwe. The ICC say that things are 'normal' in Zimbabwe. Hell, even Ian Bell of England says that things were 'normal' in Zimbabwe.

I think all Full Member countries should boycott Zimbabwe. I am a Zimbabwean and i am not happy with the way people keep quiet about it. The South African quiet diplomacy is not working. Things aint well in Zimbabwem people are beaten and are starving.