Harare - As former friends and teammates continued to testify against him, sacked cricket captain Hansie Cronje has been offered solace from an unexpected source - Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, who said he was going to miss the "marvellous" captain.
Mugabe said at his home in Harare: "I'm heartbroken by what the chap is going through. I never thought he would be lost to cricket so early in his career. He used to be very good, but, as he said, Satan got the better of him."
For a while, Mugabe was not talking politics - revealing another side to the man condemned worldwide as a tyrant, for driving invasions of white-owned farmland.
He changed position on his cosy chair and giggled shyly: "My brother, this Satan, we must all watch for him."
He said he was following the King Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing in cricket with keen interest, because he still suffered from a degree of denial over Cronje's alleged wrongdoings.
"Even here at home, I follow cricket very closely. I'm actually a patron of the local team. See, I'm not anti-white, as some people would like to paint me," he said, smiling.
The smile quickly disappeared and a long "ohhhh" followed. "I had a great, great, respect for that young man (Cronje)," he said in a low tone, dropping his head.
"What a marvellous captain he was. What is even more sad is that it wasn't even much money. It's a pity, a real pity." - Foreign Service