Cronje commission venue may move to Cape Town

Johannesburg - In an interesting new twist to the King Commission hearings into dishonesty involving some members of the South African cricket team, the judicial inquiry is now likely to be moved from Pretoria to Cape Town - the starting date is to be announced later this week.

What emerged at a press conference in Cape Town today was that the current terms of reference are to be expanded beyond those initially outlined when the judicial commission was announced at the offices of the United Cricket Board.

Mr Justice Edwin King, who has been appointed by the government to head the commission, with KwaZulu-Natal deputy director of public prosecutions, Shamila Batohi leading the evidence, said he would prefer a "less confrontational forum in order to get to the truth" and that he preferred that the commission's work, including the examination of the players and others called to give evidence, be held in public.

Ngconde Balfour, the Minister of Sport and Recreation met with the judge, recently retired as the judge-president of the Western Cape and confirmed the judge had expressed his satisfaction with the terms of reference.

At this stage the venue of the commission is to determined in consultation with the Ministries of Justice and Sport but it has been again reaffirmed that it is clear that Judge King prefers the inquiry to be held in Cape Town, where he lives. This request is being considered.

It is hoped the work of the commission would start sometime next week. The judge hoped to make a preliminary report available by the end of June.

Ms Batohi, deputy director of prosecutions in KwaZulu/Natal, expects the public inquiry to be held in offices still to be found in Cape Town. Justice ministry officials said another factor which had to be considered was the appointing of administrative staff for the commission.

Ms Batohi is at present working on cases in Durban and as she is to handle most of the preparatory work, the start of the commission's hearings may be delayed

Much ground work still has to be done with a list of witnesses to be drawn up, and notification sent. Justice ministry officials also said witnesses and their legal counsel would be given time to prepare for the commission.

Mr Justice King favours all the hearings to be held in public and as would be expected the disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje is likely to be the first witness. Whether the hearings are likely to be televised is another matter although if the inquiry follows the same process as others, including the Truth and Reconciliation commissions, it may be.

All of Cronje's teammates, including those who have retired, can expect to appear before the commission along with members of the side before he was fired for admitting he was dishonest by taking stained money. Cronje has been in hiding for almost four weeks since he read his statement on national TV in Bloemfontein on April 13.

Mr Justice King said that guilty parties would be prosecuted by the commission as this was not the purpose of the judicial commission of inquiry. It was a matter of gathering and examination of evidence to "try to determine the truth" of what has been placed before the commission.

As the role of any commission is to make recommendations to the government on the issues being probed, chances are that Mr Justice King will spread his inquiry as wide as possible. What we are looking at here is the terms of reference: to decide whether or not Cronje received cash received a cash payment and why. Given Cronje's admission in this case the onus will be the "why" and not the "whether".

In this case the Mumbai benefit match in November 1996 is likely to be added to the list of queries which at present have been limited in scope from November 1 last year until April 17. It suggests the first Test of last season, against Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein, is unlikely to receive much attention. The Test series against England, mainly the Centurion game, and the limited-overs slogs in which Zimbabwe, England, India and Pakistan played during that period are likely to be discussed.

It is strange that Cronje, having said on the fourth afternoon of the Centurion Test that he was not interested in making a game of it "by declaring and setting a target" did just that the next day, and earned heaps of praise for his "bold, innovative and imaginative decisions".

According to a Justice ministry official the findings will be included in a preliminary report at the end of June after which the government, most likely the cabinet, will make their decisions and allow the commission to widen its scope. Mr Justice King was eager to have the witnesses come forward voluntarily rather than force him to use the more confrontational subpoena methods.

It has been pointed out there is no immunity from prosecution for witnesses; witnesses, though can refuse to give evidence which could incriminate them should a future prosecution arise.

Mr Justice King firmly believes the only way to arrive at the truth would be to hold the commission's hearing in public. A confessed "lover of the game" he is said to watch the game on a small TV set in his chambers when there were less pressing matters.

He has been described by colleagues as being "fair-minded and uncompromising: not someone easy to be swayed by special interests".

South Africa's top administrators, among them Dr Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board, are expecting a bumpy ride over the next few months as the King Commission of inquiry unfolds. They suggest the probe is likely to expose deep-seated corruption in the game at home and abroad.

Dr Bacher has admitted the feeling of the public was now one of cynicism about what they were watching in terms of players skills at Test and limited-overs international games.

"The truth must come out," he said again yesterday. "We have to show where we stand on this issue and I believe in the next few months we are going to have a bumpy road . . . But the UCB will handle this process very carefully."