British companies defy calls to boycott Zimbabwe in cricket row

Hundreds of British firms are trading in Zimbabwe despite the Government's calls for a boycott by its national cricket team, the England and Wales Cricket Board said yesterday.

Some of the country's biggest companies, including Barclays and Standard Chartered, operate in Zimbabwe but foreign investment and trading has collapsed. Despite the economic and humanitarian crisis, Barclays last year made £25m before tax in Zimbabwe. A spokesman defended its role in the country, where it has 39 branches and employs 1,800 staff in the big cities.

"We have always said we are an apolitical organisation," the spokesman said. "We have been in Zimbabwe for 90 years and it's a key thing to ensure we are providing a good service to customers. We are a commercial organisation. This debate is about cricket."

The Zimbabwean subsidiary of the British-listed financial services company Old Mutual is the biggest life assurance company in the country and sponsors the Zimbabwean team. James Poole, the director of investor relations, said: "The English team have been to Zimbabwe a couple of years ago. As sponsors, it would be hugely disappointing if England didn't go to Zimbabwe. Cricket has nothing to do with Zanu-PF.

"We understand the issues better than most because we are there, we have staff there, we have customers there. We can't be asked to make the same decisions." BP also said it had no intentions of pulling out of Zimbabwe, where it has franchised filling stations.

The Save Zimbabwe campaign backed British companies' rights to continue operating. A spokesman said: "The British firms have had interests in Zimbabwe for a long time. But cricket shouldn't be played because Robert Mugabe has a well-known track record of using international events to support his own regime."

In 2000, British companies invested only £130m in Zimbabwe. UK exports had been cut from £78m in 1998 to £36m in 2001, ranking it at 104 in the list of British export markets. The Government claimed yesterday that overall foreign investment in Zimbabwe had dropped by 99 per cent in the past four years.