Life and times of struggle stalwart celebrated
The anti-apartheid struggle stalwart’s life was cut short when he was shot multiple times while at his Dawn Park home on April 10, 1993.
April 10 marks the 32nd anniversary since the assassination of freedom fighter Chris Hani, a former South African Communist Party (SACP) leader.
The anti-apartheid struggle stalwart’s life was cut short when he was shot multiple times while at his Dawn Park home on April 10, 1993.
Janusz Waluś and his co-accused Clive Derby-Lewis were arrested shortly after the incident and were sentenced to death. However, the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Moved
While it has over the past 31 years been a tradition to hold the April 10 main commemoration event in Boksburg to remember the legacy of Hani, his family and the SACP has for the first time decided to break with tradition.
They moved this event to Hani’s hometown Cofimvaba in the Chris Hani District, Eastern Cape.
However, as a pre-commemoration of Hani, the parties involved held a wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery, Thomas Titus Nkobi Memorial Park, on April 7.
Among the attendees of this event, which was led by the SACP leadership and the Hani family (represented by Chris Hani’s widow, Limpho), were Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, SACP general-secretary Solly Mapaila, Ekurhuleni Mayor Doctor Xhakaza, former Ekurhuleni mayors Mzwandile Masina, and Ntombi Mekgwe, former mayor of Boksburg Eric Xayiya, and several Ekurhuleni MMCs and the municipal management teams.
