Henry Olonga

by frog

The Greens are bringing Zimbabwe’s first black test cricketer – Henry Olonga – to New Zealand next week to talk to Kiwis about his country and why the Black Caps’ touring there right now would be such a bad idea.

Henry, along with fellow Zimbabwean cricketer Andy Flower, wore a black armband during a Cricket World Cup match in Zimbabwe in 2003 to mourn the death of democracy in his country. He and Flower also released a statement condemning the Mugabe regime. The statement said they couldn’t:

take the field “in good conscience” knowing millions of their compatriots were starving and oppressed, with hundreds of thousands likely to die of Aids, starvation and poverty.

“We are aware that people have been murdered, raped, beaten and had their homes destroyed because of their beliefs,” the statement said.

Henry fled Zimbabwe soon after for fear of his life. He’ll be speaking at public meetings in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland and will be joining Aucklanders for an anti-tour march through the city next Saturday. Henry, who now lives in London and has traded life as a professional cricketer for that of an artist, is very eloquent about the plight his country faces at the hands of Robert Mugabe and what others can and should do to bring pressure to bear on the odious despot.

He arrives in Christchurch on Tuesday.