Coltart Chooses Social Media Slams Over Formal ZC ...

Coltart Chooses Social Media Slams Over Formal ZC Consultation

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) says it extended an invitation to former Sports Minister and current Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart to contribute his views on the state of the game, but he did not respond to the consultative process.

Despite his silence, Coltart has continued to take to social media to criticise the administrators, raising questions about his professionalism.

ZC chairperson Tavengwa Mukuhlani told reporters that the board had formally reached out to Coltart as part of its post-mortem into Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He said the outreach was conducted through an independent inquiry established in December to review the sport’s entire structure.

A letter signed by ZC managing director Givemore Makoni and addressed to Coltart confirmed the invitation.

“I am writing to inform you that the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) Board, at its meeting held in Harare on 20 December 2023, appointed an Inquiry Committee to look into Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and to review the entire Cricket Affairs structure at ZC.

“The Inquiry Committee is made up of myself as the chairperson and two other members, Messrs Godfrey Nyadongo and Blessing Ngondo. As part of our formal procedures, we will be conducting interviews with various stakeholders in cricket. As a crucial stakeholder, we believe your views will greatly assist us in understanding the issues affecting the sport.

“Accordingly, you are requested to attend an interview at 10am on Saturday, 6 January 2024, at Mhishi Nkomo Legal Practice in Harare. Please note this meeting is entirely a fact-finding exercise and will culminate in a report to be presented to the Zimbabwe Cricket Board,” read part of the correspondence.

However, ZC officials said Coltart neither attended the scheduled meeting nor provided any written submissions to the committee. Instead, he has used his X (formerly Twitter) account to repeatedly accuse the board of nepotism, mismanagement, and racial bias in team selection.

His ongoing attacks have drawn criticism from some within the cricketing fraternity, who argue that by ignoring the formal platform created for constructive dialogue, Coltart has undermined his own credibility.