Chubb
International Regular
Tatenda has told Cricinfo that it was Mliswa who called him and forced him to go into hiding:
Taibu talks of the threats which drove him into hiding
Cricinfo staff
November 15, 2005
Tatenda Taibu has spoken of the threats made against him and his family last Thursday which made him leave his home and go into hiding.
Taibu, who earlier that day had fronted a press conference where the Zimbabwe players lambasted the performance of the board, explained that he was in a meeting with representatives of the Sports and Recreation Commission at a hotel in Harare when he was called by Themba Mliswa. Mliswa is well known in Zimbabwe as a Zanu-PF activist, and he has recently surfaced as chairman of the newly-created Mashonaland West province.
Mliswa introduced himself and asked whether Taibu knew who he was - Taibu replied that he had only heard about him. Mliswa then told Taibu he was "only a black boy being used" at which point Taibu reminded him that he was no longer a boy. Mliswa went on to say: "I know where you live and I will come there and beat you up." At that, Taibu hung up.
Mliswa called back soon after, but as Taibu was on another call, the phone diverted to his wife, who was in the car outside the hotel waiting for her husband. Mliswa, Taibu explained, immediately started shouting at his wife.
When he returned to the car, Taibu called someone a contact in the state security who advised him to go and report the matter to the police, which he did. The individual from state security then called Mliswa and warned him not to call again.
Given that Mliswa was arrested and charged with assault in 2003, the decision was reached to take the threats seriously, and Taibu, his wife and his three-week old baby were taken to a nearby hotel for the night. Although Taibu has since returned home, his wife remains scared and is staying with friends.
Asked about a column in yesterday's Herald in which Mliswa launched a bitter attack on him, Taibu said that the truth had not been printed by the local media which had given Mliswa free rein to criticise him. He added that his view, and that of the other players, remained the same - namely that Peter Chingoka, Ozias Bvute and people like Mliswa were not good for the game, and while they remained, the players would seriously consider a strike.
"There is no worse thing as captain than going to practice and issues being discussed by the players have got nothing to do about the game but are all about governance issues," he said. "It just shows that the players are not concentrating."
© Cricinfo
I really hope Tatenda is alright. That is one scary story. You see this sort of thing coming out of Zimbabwe all the time.
This raises serious questions as to what the ICC is going to do about it. The answer I suspect will be nothing, because "Internal politics is not our remit." Bunch of hypocritical, incompetent nonentities.
Other questions raised; Is it now possible for the Logan Cup to be run? Can even a semblence of a national side be assembled? The answer to both questions is surely no. Zimbabwe need international intervention. Nothing else will salvage the cricketing situation. The political one was dead long ago now.
Taibu talks of the threats which drove him into hiding
Cricinfo staff
November 15, 2005
Tatenda Taibu has spoken of the threats made against him and his family last Thursday which made him leave his home and go into hiding.
Taibu, who earlier that day had fronted a press conference where the Zimbabwe players lambasted the performance of the board, explained that he was in a meeting with representatives of the Sports and Recreation Commission at a hotel in Harare when he was called by Themba Mliswa. Mliswa is well known in Zimbabwe as a Zanu-PF activist, and he has recently surfaced as chairman of the newly-created Mashonaland West province.
Mliswa introduced himself and asked whether Taibu knew who he was - Taibu replied that he had only heard about him. Mliswa then told Taibu he was "only a black boy being used" at which point Taibu reminded him that he was no longer a boy. Mliswa went on to say: "I know where you live and I will come there and beat you up." At that, Taibu hung up.
Mliswa called back soon after, but as Taibu was on another call, the phone diverted to his wife, who was in the car outside the hotel waiting for her husband. Mliswa, Taibu explained, immediately started shouting at his wife.
When he returned to the car, Taibu called someone a contact in the state security who advised him to go and report the matter to the police, which he did. The individual from state security then called Mliswa and warned him not to call again.
Given that Mliswa was arrested and charged with assault in 2003, the decision was reached to take the threats seriously, and Taibu, his wife and his three-week old baby were taken to a nearby hotel for the night. Although Taibu has since returned home, his wife remains scared and is staying with friends.
Asked about a column in yesterday's Herald in which Mliswa launched a bitter attack on him, Taibu said that the truth had not been printed by the local media which had given Mliswa free rein to criticise him. He added that his view, and that of the other players, remained the same - namely that Peter Chingoka, Ozias Bvute and people like Mliswa were not good for the game, and while they remained, the players would seriously consider a strike.
"There is no worse thing as captain than going to practice and issues being discussed by the players have got nothing to do about the game but are all about governance issues," he said. "It just shows that the players are not concentrating."
© Cricinfo
I really hope Tatenda is alright. That is one scary story. You see this sort of thing coming out of Zimbabwe all the time.
This raises serious questions as to what the ICC is going to do about it. The answer I suspect will be nothing, because "Internal politics is not our remit." Bunch of hypocritical, incompetent nonentities.
Other questions raised; Is it now possible for the Logan Cup to be run? Can even a semblence of a national side be assembled? The answer to both questions is surely no. Zimbabwe need international intervention. Nothing else will salvage the cricketing situation. The political one was dead long ago now.
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I hope the child is okay.
). It's impossible to predict what's going to happen next.