UCB ignores Cronje deadline

The 4pm deadline given to the United Cricket Board by lawyers for Hansie Cronje came and went on Tuesday with no sign that the UCB intends to review or reconsider the life ban it intends to impose on the disgraced former South African captain.

The UCB announced the ban last week, giving Cronje seven days to respond or make representations. The seven-day period ends on Wednesday. No such representations were forthcoming. Instead the UCB learned in the newspapers last Friday that Cronje's lawyers were considering challenging the ban in court.

The UCB received a letter from Leslie Sackstein, attorney for Cronje, on Monday advising of the intention to contest the ban, giving the UCB until 4pm on Tuesday to respond. UCB managing director Ali Bacher sent Sackstein a letter on Tuesday noting that as UCB president Percy Sonn was currently in Nairobi, the UCB would not be reviewing its position before the 4pm deadline.

The matter now seems to revolve around the possibility of Cronje being employed as a commentator or newspaper columnist. Indeed, Sackstein has sought, in his public utterances, to cast the ban as a freedom of speech issue. He is quoted in The Star on Tuesday as questioning how the UCB "can suggest that people cannot have freedom of speech".

The terms of the ban, however, refer only to the activities of the UCB and its affiliates. It is doubtful that working for television or newspapers falls under the UCB's ambit, although Sonn has expressed his opposition to Cronje being employed in such a capacity. The UCB has close ties with SuperSport which sponsors the South African domestic first-class competition and the medium most likely to offer Cronje a job.

In August SuperSport stretched an interview with Cronje out over three hour-long episodes. The interview was widely criticised as being too soft on Cronje, and it was speculated, but never confirmed, that the former captain had been paid R1-million to take part.

It seems likely that the proposed court action is less a genuine threat than an attempt to establish the parameters of the ban. It is difficult to believe that Cronje would again be willing to have the details of his sordid dealings with bookmakers and his attempts to corrupt his team-mates again brought forth in a legal forum.