King Panel hearing may resume on Oct. 9

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, OCT. 2. Contrary to expectations, the King Commission inquiring into allegations of bribery and corruption in South African cricket did not resume its hearing today.

According to its secretary, Mr. John Bacon, no date has been set. It will be decided after the Commission's leader of evidence, Ms. Shamila Batohi, briefs the panel on her visit to India and her discussions with the Delhi police, the Central Bureau of Investigation and other authorities engaged in enquiries.

Ms. Batohi, based in Durban where she is the KwaZulu- Natal provincial head of the Scorpions, elite investigative unit under the National Director of Prosecutions, is expected to return to Cape Town tomorrow and brief the Commission. There are indications that the hearings will now resume on October 9.

The main purpose of her visit was to secure certified copies of the tapes of conversation which allegedly took place between Hansie Cronje and his Indian contacts. When the scandal broke out, cricket authorities here, from the managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Mr. Ali Bacher, and even the political leadership as represented by the Sports Minister and the Deputy Foreign Minister, `demanded' that India immediately hand over the `original tapes', for only South Africa was qualified to conduct an honest and impartial inquiry into the allegations against Cronje and other cricketers. This mindset has still not changed.

The absence of a certified copy of the tapes, or even a transcript of the conversation, has certainly hampered the Commission's work, in particular cross-examination of Hansie Cronje and others named by the Indian police, by the leader of evidence of the Commission. The investigation in India too appears to have been hampered by the failure of the authorities to secure from South Africa `authenticated' voice samples of Hansie Cronje, to tally them with the voice on the tapes.

Reports from India suggest that little headway was made by Ms. Batohi insofar as the `original tapes' are concerned because of the constraints of the Indian judicial procedure.

However, she has secured certified copies of the transcripts of the taped conversation. She said, on her return, that her trip to had been useful.

From the South African perspective, any move by the authorities here to secure and provide Indian authorities with the `authenticated voice' of Cronje is sure to be challenged right up to the Constitutional Court as violative of the guarantees of every person's right to `privacy' (Section 14) and `freedom and security of person' (Section 12), in particular, `the right to bodily and psychological integrity'.

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