{"id":8125,"date":"2025-08-13T08:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=8125"},"modified":"2025-08-13T08:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T08:56:40","slug":"zc-accuses-coltart-of-smear-campaign-sparks-fan-fury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=8125","title":{"rendered":"ZC Accuses Coltart of &#8220;Smear Campaign,&#8221; Sparks Fan Fury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sports Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HARARE, Zimbabwe \u2013 Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has launched a scathing attack on Bulawayo Mayor and former Sports Minister David Coltart, accusing him of conducting a &#8220;relentless smear campaign&#8221; against the organisation&#8217;s black administrators. The accusation, contained in a Tuesday statement, has ignited a firestorm of criticism from cricket fans online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ZC&#8217;s statement was unequivocal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It is time to call his bluff and expose his agenda for what it truly is.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cricketing body alleged Coltart&#8217;s frequent social media critiques, often presented as the voice of &#8220;concerned cricket lovers,&#8221; actually &#8220;propagate a deeply divisive and damaging narrative.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The organisation claimed Coltart&#8217;s comments &#8220;threaten the unity and progress that ZC has painstakingly built over many years.&#8221; It challenged him &#8220;to abandon his hollow posts and present concrete, factual evidence to support his claims.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fan Backlash Erupts Online<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The response from Zimbabwean cricket fans on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), many amplified by Coltart himself, was swift and overwhelmingly critical of ZC:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dismissal &amp; Embarrassment: &#8220;Is this honestly a genuine post from an International cricket board?!? How absolutely pathetic and embarrassing!!!&#8221; wrote one user, capturing a widespread sentiment questioning ZC&#8217;s professionalism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Calls for Resignation: Others demanded accountability: &#8220;Please resign and let those who have the nation&#8217;s interest at heart run our cricket, listen to the criticism,&#8221; urged another fan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Deflection Accusations:<\/em> Many felt ZC ignored the core issues: &#8220;This is a disappointing response to the real issue at hand \u2013 the performance and current state of Zim Cricket. The fans deserved an update\u2026 not a deflective and disheartening article.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rejecting the &#8220;Race Card&#8221;: &#8220;You all are bunch of losers, always playing the race card when criticised,&#8221; stated one blunt response. Another countered ZC&#8217;s narrative directly: \u201cIt\u2019s not a smear campaign. It\u2019s the voice of reason. ZC is probably captured by corrupt officials and players, hence the continuous bad results.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Calls for ICC Intervention &amp; Allegations of Favouritism: Some fans suggested drastic measures: \u201cAt this pace we as black fans would appreciate another ban until our house is in order.\u201d Others alleged internal mismanagement: \u201cYou aren&#8217;t pro black, you&#8217;re pro Takashinga and divert resources\u2026 keeping Hamilton on a ghost worker salary while employing your homies.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Defending Coltart &amp; Demanding Focus: The ZC statement also drew defences of Coltart and calls for focus: \u201cWe stand with Coltart!! We need change,\u201d one fan declared. Another advised ZC: \u201cInstead of delving into David Coltart&#8217;s past\u2026 you should be telling us how you plan to address our poor performances.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Financial Accountability: The issue of funding was also raised sharply: \u201cYou\u2026 are a complete disgrace to cricket. You receive US$17 million every year from the ICC but our players are underpaid. Our grounds are appalling\u2026 and you dare attack one man for your failures?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The outpouring paints a picture of deep-seated frustration among supporters, who perceive ZC&#8217;s attack on Coltart as an attempt to deflect from ongoing concerns about team performance, financial management, and governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow Zim GBC News for updates:<br>X (Formerly Twitter): @ZimGbc<br>Facebook: Zim GBC News<br>Instagram: @ZimGBCNews<br>YouTube: Zim GBC News<br>Website: www.zimgbcnews.co.zw<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC Sports News\u00a92025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports Correspondent HARARE, Zimbabwe \u2013 Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has launched a scathing attack on Bulawayo Mayor and former Sports Minister David Coltart, accusing him of conducting a &#8220;relentless smear campaign&#8221;&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8127,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions\/8127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}