Editorial Comment: Aussies, Pakistan tour deals detractors a body blow Australian cricketers arrived in the country yesterday despite attempts by some wayward individuals to discourage them from touring this country for a tri-Series Twenty20 International that also features Pakistan

THE Australian cricket team’s arrival in Harare yesterday, for the Twenty20 International Tri-Series which also features Pakistan and our Chevrons, provided a very powerful statement of the world’s commitment to defeat the dark merchants of violence and terror.

When it comes to world cricket, the Aussies are one of the three teams with the biggest profile in the game after India and England and for them to decide to tour Zimbabwe, at a time when some evil political forces were trying to project this country as an unsafe destination, is a major defeat for those devils.

It is also a triumph for the millions of our peaceful people who have always been proud of this country’s status as a very safe nation where, despite our obvious political differences, has remained a beacon of security and safety.

The bomb attack in Bulawayo last Saturday, which was an attempt on the life of President Mnangagwa and the political leadership of this country, was always meant to destabilise this country and plunge it into the turmoil that those forces of darkness want to see unfolding.

It was also meant to scare away such important visitors, like the Australian cricket team, in that it was supposed to project this image that their security could never be guaranteed and they were better off staying in their homeland.

But, thankfully, the Aussies know better that — as serious and unfortunate as that incident, which has been condemned by every peace-loving person around the world, including the United Nations, was — it was an isolated act that was not consistent with what happens in this country.

They know that, in every country, there will always be some deranged individuals who are prepared to do something out of the ordinary, which is not in sync with the true picture of the people of that nation, in their desperate and shameless attempts to satisfy their evil agendas.

That is why they recently toured England, where they played five ODIs and a sole Twenty20 International, despite the rise in terror incidents that have happened in that country of late, including the Manchester Arena bombing last year, which killed 23 people and injured 139 others during a pop concert by American singer Ariana Grande.

We watched with dismay, in the past couple of days, as some people, who hoped to benefit from any chaos, going to the extent of telling the Australians that, in the wake of the incident in Bulawayo, they should not set foot in Zimbabwe.

However, we knew that such foolish missions would never succeed because the world is united in ensuring that it defeats these merchants of terror and violence and there is no better way to defeat them than to ensure that the kind of life they are trying to take away from us, like international sporting events, go on as scheduled.

Football didn’t stop in Manchester in the wake of the bombing in that city last year and we saw the leading clubs there, Manchester United and Manchester City, playing a leading role in projecting the defiance of their city by ensuring that their matches went ahead as scheduled.

That is why we believe that the Twenty20 International Tri-Series, which gets underway tomorrow, is a big statement that life is going on, as normal, despite the attempts by those evil merchants to destabilise this nation with their cowardly act last Saturday.

That a team with the international profile of Australia can visit our shores, just a month before the elections, also goes to show that there is peace in this country, which our national leaders have been preaching in the new dispensation, and we have buried the old ways where violence would be the common denominator during such times.

We all have a duty as Zimbabweans to ensure that we preserve that peace and our nation is projected in good light around the world and we urge our security officials to be vigilant and ensure that those who would like to compromise our peace, and could target the high-profile cricket series that starts tomorrow, are defeated.

Our security forces did well in the way they ensured that the nine countries that came for the World Cup Qualifier, which we held in February and March, were given full protection and they have a responsibility to ensure that we maintain that with this cricket series.

We owe it to the world to ensure that the Aussies and Pakistan cricketers are safe during this tour of duty and we are confident that, as we have always done, we will shame those forces of darkness who are always looking for an opportunity to destabilise our country because they are not happy that this nation is now marching in the right direction under a leadership that cares for its people and their interests.

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