Last updated 23 June 2007
Peter Chingoka was the
first black Zimbabwean to make his name in cricket, thanks to a
privileged upbringing that enabled him to be one of the few non-whites
to gain an education at multiracial private schools, Hartmann House and
St George's College in Harare, during the years of racist white rule in
Rhodesia.
A seam bowler and useful lower-order batsman, his greatest cricketing
achievement was his appointment as captain of the South African African
XI that played in the Gillette Cup knockout competition in 1975-76 and
1976-77. He was able to play multiracial club cricket for Universals,
but was not a major figure and pursued cricket administration.
He was appointed vice-president of the ZCU in 1990 and took over as
president on the resignation of David Ellman-Brown in 1992, shortly
after Zimbabwe gained Test status. He has held the position ever since,
latterly in troubled times. Many on both sides of the political spectrum
considered him to be a figurehead, appearing as a genial figure early
during his term of office, but he become more hardline in his attitude
as his organisation gradually adopted more political undertones, and in
2005 the players and provincial chairmen turned on him, accusing him of
mismanagement.
In November 2005, almost all the country's players went on strike,
refusing to play until Chingoka quit, but he soldiered on regardless and
somehow emerged from the mudslinging as head of a government-appointed
interim executive. Insiders are quick to point out that he has many
friends in high places in the ICC and has networked well in Zimbabwe, a
country where who you know matters far more than anything else.
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