Cronje seeks to get life ban overturned

Former South African captain Hansie Cronje will attempt to get a life ban from cricket overturned this week on the grounds that it was unfairly imposed without a hearing.

Cronje, who admitted last year to taking money from bookmakers, will not attend the hearing which starts on Wednesday and is expected to conclude on Friday.

He was banished from all facets of organised cricket after admitting to the King Commission that he had colluded with the game's gambling underworld and had accepted approximately US$130 000 in illicit cash. The ban was imposed after Cronje announced to the Commission that he was severing all links with the game.

Cronje has since expressed a desire to return to the game, perhaps in a coaching or commentating role, although the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) remains adamant that he should not be involved in any cricket under their auspices.

According to papers already before the court, Cronje will argue that his ban was imposed unfairly and without a hearing. He will also say the ban itself is too extensive and lacks clarity, preventing him even from being involved in sport at school level and barring him access to stadiums.

Interference
In his affidavit, Cronje goes on to accuse the UCB of interfering with his personal life and with his attempts to earn a living.

"I stress that this...is part of a definite policy to punish me for my conduct by interfering with my personal life and that of others who may not share the UCB's view of me," the affidavit reads.

Reports in South Africa have said Cronje has been offered a substantial contract to commentate and present both domestic and international cricket by satellite television company Supersport. Cronje will argue that UCB president Percy Sonn has publicly pressurised broadcasters and the print media to prevent them from employing him.

"He (Sonn) appears to accept that the UCB cannot actively prohibit my employment, but the threat to those in the media who sponsor cricket if they seek to employ me is specific and clear," Cronje says in his affidavit.

Sonn denies the allegations in his answering affidavit. He also says he has serious misgivings about Cronje's stated intention of promoting the game in South Africa's disadvantaged communities, considering that two of the cricketers to whom he offered money to underperform, Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams, are both players of colour.

"...his dealings with Gibbs and Williams leave much to be desired. It is therefore the duty of (the UCB) to protect its cricketers who come from the disadvantaged communities from people like (Cronje)," Sonn's affadavit says.

UCB lawyers will argue that Cronje's contention that he was not given a fair hearing before his ban was imposed is misguided, that they were only rubber-stamping his own stated intention to cut all ties with the game and that the King Commission was a perfectly adequate arena for Cronje to present his own case.

Cronje's case will be argued in court by senior counsel Mike Maritz, who has won a reputation for fiery cross-examination. Senior counsel Wim Trengove, who has previously represented former president Nelson Mandela and the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is to argue for the UCB in front of presiding judge, Justice FC Kirk-Cohen. No witnesses will be called.

Mail Cricket Editor