Expert believes Pistorius' case will have less impact in SA than cult hero Cronje's

A lecturer from the University of Cape Town believes that former South Africa cricket team captain Hansie Cronje's case on match-fixing charges in 2000 had more impact on the South African public than Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius' murder case.

Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide after he murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home last year on Valentine's Day and his trial has gained much hype since.

But Jacques Rousseau, lecturer on critical thinking and ethics at the University of Cape Town, believes that the case did not fully engage the majority of South Africans, News.com.au reported.

Rousseau said that he thinks the interest in Pistorius is mainly with rich whites and they make up less than eight per cent of the population, adding that in terms of how his fall from grace resonated on a national level he thinks Cronje's was greater.

The lecturer said that Cronje had led South African cricket through a period of almost constant success, adding that he was a cult hero across the nation.

Rousseau said that people want their sporting heroes to be virtuous and noble, and added that that is how South Africans saw Cronje; they felt he exemplified the virtues they aspired to, so when the skipper was unmasked as a cheat the people felt let down.

Rousseau said that it was the same with Lance Armstrong, who inspired sympathy as a cancer survivor.

He said that he is not sure that Pistorius was looked at that way, adding that he fought against discrimination, but it was personal discrimination.

Rousseau also said that when the double amputee went to the courts to be allowed to run at the Olympics he wasn't being a social justice warrior on behalf of the disabled, and added that Pistorius was being an opportunist, fighting for himself.

Pistorius was feted at the London Olympics when he became the first double amputee runner to compete at that level. South Africa's best known international athlete, he lived a playboy lifestyle financed by a portfolio of highly paid endorsements but public opinion turned against him quickly when he shot and killed Steenkamp.