Cronje to bare his soul

Disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje will reveal all (or at least as much of it as he can without jeopardising his indemnity from prosecution) in a three-part television interview this week. But no one is saying whether or how much he is being paid to bare his soul to the nation.

Cronje is featured in an extensive interview to be aired on the South African subscription channel M-Net on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings this week. The interview was conducted by Mike Haysman of SuperSport, M-Net's sports arm, over three days at Cronje's luxury home on the Fancourt golfing estate. Haysman also speaks to Cronje's wife Bertha and to his parents.

SuperSport managing director Russell McMillan has so far refused to say whether or not Cronje was paid for the interview and he continued to demur on Tuesday this week.

"It's nobody's business whether we paid Hansie," said McMillan. "Certainly not yours or your readers."

McMillan refuted the argument that it was in the public interest to learn if Cronje had been paid. "We don't claim that the interview is in the public interest. It might be in the interest of our subscribers, but we don't tell them how much we pay for the rights to televise cricket matches," he said.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that Cronje did not seek payment for the interview. Since his appearance before the King commission of inquiry a flood of reports have surfaced claiming that Cronje had been paid for television and press interviews and that he was engaged in setting up a book deal.

So prevalent were these reports that Pastor Ray McCauley, the man to whom Cronje faxed his last night confession back in April, was moved to declare that Cronje might do himself a favour if he was seen to be a little more remorseful and a little less concerned with business deals.

Some weeks ago McMillan said that the interviews had come about after Cronje's legal representatives had contacted SuperSport. At the same time McMillan dismissed the notion of Cronje getting a job in order to pay his legal costs as "nonsense" and floated the idea that when the match-fixing scandal has finally run its course, there might be a position for Cronje as a SuperSport commentator.

This week McMillan re-iterated these views. "I don't know what kind of job he can do until all this is over," he said. "For all we know he could be in jail at the end of it. But we're comfortable that our viewers will be interested in the interviews and they could serve as a warning - if you play with fire you could get burned."

It is unlikely that the interviews will contain any new revelations about Cronje's involvement. This would have threatened the immunity from prosecution offered to Cronje by the King commission - an indemnity conditional on full and frank disclosure.

The King commission's official view of the interviews is that Cronje can do what he pleases in his private life. Judge Edwin King is currently in England and not available for comment this week, but chief prosecutor Shamila Batohi confirmed that she would be tuning into M-Net on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. "Rest assured, I'll be watching," she said. "Just like the rest of the country, I expect."