Is it some strange coincidence that I find myself driving from Cape Town to George today for business? The exact same route that I drove 12 years ago, the exact same stormy rain weather than 1 June 2002. On that fateful morning I received news that my brother Hansie has gone missing on a plane, so I started driving from Cape Town to George. It was exactly halfway to George when I got a phone call: Sorry Frans, we found the wreckage. No one survived. Could you please call your family and let them know? To this day, THAT was the toughest phone call I ever had to make. But, this morning I would like to celebrate a brother, a friend and a great man. The president of SA Cricket, Percy Sonn called him a criminal and Professor Tim Noakes called him psychotic. The media had a field day. But, they could not have been further from the truth! Everyone that knew him would tell you the opposite. The best way that anyone has ever described Hansie Cronje was still done by his widowed wife Bertha (whom we dearly love to this day) at his funeral: For the past two years I wanted to tell the world. I wanted to shout it out. I wanted to explain to people, that even though Hansie made a mistake, he was still the same Hansie. A kind and loving husband, a genuine friend and an honourable man. Over the last couple of days, I’ve come to the wonderful realisation that actually nobody forgot the special qualities that I knew he had. Therefore I would like to thank Hansie’s parents for the special person they raised. It was a privilege being married to him. So from the bottom of my heart and the rest of our family - thanks for 12 years of amazing support to all of you!!! And heres to you Hans! I will drink a glass of red wine to you tonight when Im at Fancourt.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 05:55:37 +0000
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