MiD DAY visits the place where Cronje lived and died

It was quite a touching moment to drive past the Fancourt Estate here where late South Africa captain Hansie Cronje resided with his wife Bertha

MiD DAY visits the place where Cronje lived and died

It was quite a touching moment to drive past the Fancourt Estate here where late South Africa captain Hansie Cronje resided with his wife Bertha. The driver of the cab showed us the Cradock Peak in the Outeniqua mountain range, where Cronje's cargo plane crashed on June 1, 2002.

Born in Bloemfontein, Cronje moved to George after marriage, a region that has numerous world-class courses, some designed by famous golfers. The most well-known is Fancourt Golf Estate, which hosted the Presidents Cup in 2003 and is often the host to high-profile tournaments. Cronje is said to have played numerous friendly games there.

Cronje knew almost everyone at Fancourt Estate. "Hansie wanted to return home (to George) from Johannesburg that night, but all the overnight flights were delayed because of stormy weather. So, he called up some of his friends in George and asked them to organise for a cargo plane.

Poor visibility
"It was a stormy night. The pilots lost visibility and a tragedy took place," former South Africa captain Ali Bacher, who was riding with this correspondent, said.

"I got a call from John Bryant, who was a close friend of Hansie and he was complaining about the foggy weather that morning. He said it was difficult to see the road ahead even with headlights on," Bacher added.

Theories that Cronje was murdered on the orders of a cricket betting syndicate flourished since his death and were most recently re-floated by former South Africa captain Clive Rice in the wake of the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer in March 2007. There are other theories that the crash never happened.

"There have been numerous theories to his death, especially by Rice and some others who said it was all a cover up. Those are big assumptions as the news of his crash spread rapidly that morning. It was a tragic end to the life of one of South Africa's greatest cricketers," added Bacher.

Cronje's involvement in match-fixing, the suspicion of murder in both the Cronje and Woolmer cases, and links between cricketers and betting syndicates have since appeared in the 2008 novel Raffles and the Match-Fixing Syndicate by Adam Corres. However, the locals in and around Fancourt are convinced that there was no foul play.

In high regard
"I can never forget that call he gave me at three in the morning saying that he had not been entirely honest about the match-fixing allegations against him.

"We did what was right at the time and stripped him off captaincy immediately. But anyone who knew Cronje and played under his captaincy will always hold him in high regard," said Bacher.

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