STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Wednesday 11.25am.
TWO months after Hansie Cronje and three teammates were accused of match-fixing in India, public hearings got under way which should shed some light on how deeply corruption has penetrated South African cricket.
Cronje did not attend the opening day’s hearing held by the King Commission, and a lawyer representing him said he was unlikely to testify this week.
The scandal has generated considerable media interest and a sizable media contingent descended on the Centre of the Book in Cape Town city centre to cover the hearings.
Three of Cronje’s former teammates, Pat Symcox, Darryl Cullinan, Derek Crookes, did arrive and are expected to be among the first to testify.
The hearings adjourned shortly after they began after television station e.tv filed an application to broadcast the proceedings live.
The first two hours of the hearing were spent with King hearing a court application by e-tv and the Live Africa Network News radio station to broadcast the entire proceedings. King said that he will make a decision on Thursday.
Lawyers for the witnesses argued that the broadcasts will put “undue pressure” on their clients, while the broadcasters argued for their Contitutuional right to free expression.
King, who delivered his opening remarks before calling the adjournment, indicated he was likely to refuse the application and ask the television cameras to leave.
Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, who attended the opening, said he was confident the commission would root out corruption in cricket.
King said he could impose the penalty of a fine or imprisonment for failing to give evidence at the commission. He stressed his it was aimed at “ascertaining the truth”.
“There appears to be a perception that this commission is being used or regarded as a vehicle of revenge or a witch hunt. This is emphatically not so,” he said.
Earlier, Rhema head Ray McCauley admitted that Cronje’s voice was indeed on the tapes in possession of Indian police who allege the sacked cricket captain fixed matches.
McCauley, however, said Cronje said he was “playing with” the bookmakers, and that he never intended to throw a match or contact the players whose names he mentioned to the bookmakers.