John Howard’s decision to ban a tour to Zimbabwe by Australia’s cricketers stands in salutary contrast to the craven complicity of African governments in the iniquities of Robert Mugabe’s regime. Governments are rightly reluctant to intervene in decisions by sporting bodies, but as the Australian Prime Minister observed, this event would have been remorselessly used by “this grubby dictator” for noisome propaganda.

Any doubts on that score should be dispelled by the Mugabe Government’s triumphalist reaction last Friday, when the combined votes of Africa and most of Latin America, against strong opposition from the EU, installed Francis Zhema, Zimbabwe’s Environment and Tourism Minister, in the chair of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.

This is the only forum where Africans can bring their concerns about the environment to international attention. Zimbabwe’s UN Ambassador accused the EU of playing politics, asking: “What has sustainable development got to do with human rights?” To that specious question, Zimbabwe’s plight gives a compelling answer.

Sustainable development is an opaque coinage, but essentially it means ensuring that economic growth meets present needs without compromising the prospects of future generations. Mr Mugabe’s oppressive and corrupt reign has turned Zimbabwe into the world’s fastest-shrinking economy. This is a disaster almost entirely man-made. In the name of land reform, Mr Mugabe has recklessly destroyed its once-thriving agricultural sector, forcing out not only white farm owners but also 350,000 of their black farm-workers and handing much of the land not to the landless, but to cronies who have let it go to waste.

Millions of malnourished families now rely on food aid – aid that the regime uses as a weapon of political intimidation. As officially measured by the prices of controlled goods, inflation is 2,200 per cent; the real rate is double that appalling figure. The environmental consequences of misrule are acute. With electricity now rationed to four hours a day and cooking fuel unaffordable, even where it is available, people are raiding forests for firewood. Wildlife poaching is rampant in the national parks that are the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s tourism. Unemployment is 80 per cent and life expectancy is down from 60 in 1990 to 35. Talent has fled the country and few but the Chinese are prepared to invest there.

African governments have often been their own worst enemies at the UN, uniting to block reforms that would enable the UN to serve their peoples better. For the past year, they have used their votes on the UN Human Rights Council to shield Zimbabwe from condemnation.

On the environment, where geography, poverty, weak government and rapid population growth make Africa extremely vulnerable, the continent needed a respected, knowledgeable advocate at the UN. Mr Zhema is under an EU ban on contacts with Mugabe ministers that makes it impossible for him to function. His election will paralyse the commission. That Zimbabwe insisted on its “right” to the post is no surprise; but for the 12 other African governments on the Commission to have chosen Zimbabwe to take Africa’s “turn” for the rotating chairmanship is a disgrace for which each one of them must be held to account. They have failed Africa.