A letter sent to the United Cricket Board offices by lawyers representing Hansie Cronje’s family banning the UCB from attending Cronje’s funeral was not authorised by family, funeral organisers said on Monday.
The letter sent to the UCB, from a Bloemfontein-based form of attorneys, Israel and Sackstein, was addressed to cricket board chief executive Gerald Majola.
It purported to be acting on behalf of the widow and family of the late W J Cronje.
The letter requests the entire UCB executive and its affiliates to stay away from Hansie’s funeral on Wednesday.
But a representative from Louise Klopper Communications, the public relations company that is handling the funeral plans, said everyone was welcome at the funeral.
”We have heard about the letter and believe it to be totally false and it was certainly not authorised by Hansie’s family. To do such a thing would be completely childish in the light of such a tragedy.
”Nobody has been banned from attending the service. Many people will want to pay their respects.”
But the Bloemfontein lawyer, Leslie Sackstein, who sent the letter, insisted that a family member instructed him to send the letter to the UCB on Monday morning.
”The UCB said some very unkind things about him while he was alive and now they want to sing his praises, it smacks of hypocrisy,” Sackstein told Sapa on Monday.
”Hansie has a very loyal support base in Bloemfontein and a lot of his supporters are going to be angry when they see some of those UCB members at the funeral. The letter was sent to try and avoid a circus. Hansie deserves dignity to the end.”
The letter called on, among others, International Cricket Council’s 2003 Cricket World Cup Executive Director Dr Ali Bacher in particular, to stay away from the funeral.
Bacher who knew Hansie well, even as a young cricketer in his school days, confirmed that he would be present, with the full permission of Hansie’s parents.
The UCB confirmed it received a fax on Monday addressed to the CEO Majola, from attorney Sackstein of Bloemfontein.
”In the fax, Mr Sackstein stated that he acts for the widow and family of former South African captain Hansie Cronje,” said UCB representative Bronwyn Wilkinson.
However, the UCB had subsequently been assured by a representative of the Cronje family that anyone may attend the funeral.
”Several members of the UCB intend to pay their respects to Mr Cronje in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Members of the South African national team will also attend the funeral, including national captain Shaun Pollock, who is travelling from England for the service,” Wilkinson said.
On Monday, the Cronje family began to come to terms with the reality of his death as they met the plane carrying his body.
An autopsy was done earlier in the day to determine the exact cause of death. Rescuers suspected that he had suffered from a broken neck on impact in the plane crash.
SABC television news reported that the coffin carrying the remains was transferred to a hearse at the Bloemfontein airport.
Hansie’s parents Ewie and San-Marie and his wife Bertha watched broken-hearted.
Cronje’s funeral will be held at his former school, Grey College, at 2pm on Wednesday and it will be broadcast to the Rhema Church in Randburg for those who cannot attend the Bloemfontein service.
On Monday Civil Aviation Authority inspectors at the mountain crash site managed to retrieve the voice recorder from the Hawker Sidley 748 in which Cronje (32) and two pilots, Willie Meyer (68) and Ian Noakes (50) died.
The SA Sports Commission on Monday paid tribute to the former national cricket captain describing him as inspiration to young cricketers.
CEO of the SA Sports Commission, Dr M Phaahla, said: ”He led his country at two World Cups and to a rare Test series victory over India. He was one of the most respected figures in the cricket game. His shocking death came before he was about to start a new life for himself and has ended one of the saddest episodes in South African sport.” – Sapa