The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Cronje's life — an inspiration and a warning

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Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Cronje's life — an inspiration and a warning

Recently Shaun Pollock spoke from the pulpit at a church service in Kwa-Zulu Natal. His chosen task was to restore the reputation of his fellow Afrikaner and former captain, Hansie Cronje.

He has not been alone in endeavours that reach beyond the requirements of Christian forgiveness. A tribe and a country want Cronje back. Pollock and company is eager to rescue a man they respected from the caverns of history. They are committed to portraying him in a more sympathetic light so that the overall picture may be seen. They want to remind people, especially historians, that corruption was part of his life and not the entire tale.

Till his story was contaminated, Cronje seemed like a colossus amidst a compromised people. He was a hero in uncertain times. A religion had abandoned its most basic tenets, a strong nation had been forced from its enclave, the pillars upon which life had rested for generations had been shattered. And there, upon the field, was a remote and unyielding figure, a conquering son reminding all and sundry that the possibilities of life endured.

And then came the fall. And a terrible fall it was. Afrikaners, especially, were stunned. Slowly the shock has subsided and evidently the time seems right to reassess the boy from Bloemfontein. Afrikaners are particularly keen to embrace Cronje for his story has been their story. Also many have convinced themselves that he was picked upon, a sentiment that runs through hundreds of years of history. Had not his father complained that his son was taking "the blame for the entire world?" Has it not always been so?

Cronje has a peculiar place in the hearts and minds of his people. Afrikaners have been suffering from a crisis of confidence. And they have been affected by perceptions and collective condemnation. Arriving in South Africa 14 years ago, I was advised that on no account should I go to Bloemfontein because it was full of Afrikaners. Thinus, a schoolboy, asked: "Have there been no good Afrikaners?" Now he is working as a doctor, surrounded by AIDS patients.

Cronje stood like a beacon of light amidst the gloom. He was not merely the hope of the side. He was the hope of a generation dragged into a world whose iniquities had been emblazened in its soul. A tribe that had not previously been obliged to embark upon the journey of the self-examination had been forced to look inwards at the darkness seen by Mr. Kurtz as he whispered "the horror, the horror!"

Right credentials

Cronje had all the credentials needed to represent a people and their aspirations and desperations. He was a true-blood.

The South African Cronjes descend Piers and Estion, brothers who arrived in Cape Town, and French Hugenots searching for religious freedom. Estion died young, but Piers produced sons and for nine generations the Cronjes worked the land, moving ever further north to avoid the intrusions of the English and their dreaded civilisation.

Not until Hansie's father left the land to work in education was the line broken. No one could doubt that Hansie belonged. He combined past, present and prospects, or so they hoped and later feared.

Cronje seemed to define his people. At once he was a paternoster, unyielding, upright, immune to the blasts of fortune. Stoicism lay at the heart of his character alongside a passion that burnt like a low flame.

Afrikaners count amongst the most romantic of people, a description Oos van Randt might not recognise, though it is expressed in his snorting defiance of age. Maybe romance has been a weakness yet it is often a source of strength. Afrikaners want to believe. Everyone else has given up.

Cronje expressed the tenacity of his people. In Sydney, with bush-fires raging and grass smoking before our eyes, he led his team to a famous victory. The heat was unbearable. Always there must be the suffering. Cronje was a great leader of men, a towering figure urging on his players till the moment of redemption arrived.

But it was more than that. Cronje is not so easily defined for he was also a man of his times, a cosmopolitan, dashing figure, whose toughness was respected by men and whose appearance was admired by women, many of whom flocked to the speeches he gave after the fall.

He was rich, sexy, uncompromising and successful. Moreover he was a match for Ali Bacher with all his machinations. He reassured a tribe that the world had not come to an end. He expressed the yearning of his folk.

No wonder, South Africans did not want to believe the tapes. Indeed, the reaction to the revelations reeked of racism, an Indian buffoon accusing a favoured son of malpractice. In fact, detective Paul is cold and efficient. Eventually Cronje had to admit that the tapes were genuine and he had not only taken money to play badly but also had used his position as captain to persuade others to put their spoons in the honey-pot. No one will ever know the full story. The King Commission was a charade. But the suggestion that Cronje stashed millions away in tax havens cannot be discounted.

Cronje was hardly in his grave before the campaign began to restore his name. An impression was created that some Australians were as bad but it is not true, merely a self-comforting notion calculated to reinforce feelings of victimisation. Cronje was greedy and manipulative. He knew what he was doing, told me about the Pakistanis in 1994 but did not add that he intended to join in. He was caught red-handed. Of course, they went for him.

Now comes the reassessment. Cronje was not wicked. Nor is he an old painting to be restored by sympathisers. Given time he might have repaired his reputation. No one will ever know. Others cannot act on his behalf. Plainly, though, he was not a legitimate champion because he could not be relied upon in the hour of need. South Africans of all hues deserved better.

Bouncing back

Other heroes have been found. And the Afrikaners are bouncing back. Take a look at the local golf rankings and the leading school rugby teams. They have not surrendered anything that matters, merely power and position. The search for a new life within a new dispensation is underway. Cronje cannot light that path for he took too many false turns. But his strong points deserve recognition. Mature societies realise that the world is not divided into heroes and villains, and that every man and every nation endures the struggle between the forces of light and dark. Cronje deserves neither our contempt nor uncritical admiration. His life serves as an inspiration and as a warning. Pollock is right. He must be restored because he is part of the story besides which, amidst the bad, can be found much that was fine.

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