Chris Hani’s widow urges court to throw out Janusz Walus’ bail bid

Slain South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani’s widow Limpho Hani has urged the Constitutional Court to throw out a bold bid for freedom his killer, Janusz Walus, has launched.

She said not only did the now 69-year-old take “the life of a father and husband, but also a man who, along with his comrades in the struggle, was an architect of, and negotiator for, our constitutional democracy”.

Hani said in papers before SA’s apex court: “The crime was one that shook a nation that was crafting a new society to its core.”

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Chris Hani was gunned down outside his Boksburg home in April 1993. Walus was convicted of his murder that year and was initially sentenced to death. After the abolition of the death penalty, however, this was commuted to
life in prison. Walus has made several unsuccessful applications for parole, with Justice Minister Ronald Lamola having refused the latest (the subject of the current court proceeding) in 2020, citing the seriousness of the crime.

Walus initially tried to take Lamola’s decision on review in the High Court in Pretoria, but Judge Elizabeth Kubushi dismissed that application, finding it was without substance.

He subsequently approached the Supreme Court of Appeal but was again unsuccessful. Now, Walus has turned to the country’s apex court. Lamola, Limpho Hani and the SACP are opposing the application.

In an affidavit she penned on her own behalf, as well as for the SACP, Hani described Walus’ crime as “unlike many others in South Africa”.

Limpho Hani pointed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings that Clive Derby-Lewis, who was also convicted of charges relating to Chris Hani’s death, and Walus’ objective was “to create a situation where the
followers of Mr Hani would cause widespread mayhem in the wake of the assassination”.

This would, in turn, “create an opportunity for the security forces and right-wing to step in to restore order and take over the government of the country…”

“It shook the very core of society which South Africa was trying to build at the time – a democratic and free society. Its motive was not just personal, but was carefully designed to throw South Africa into a monumental political catastrophe,” Limpho Hani insisted.

She said Walus’ various bids for freedom over the years were all simply attempts “to escape the consequences of his actions”.

She and the SACP were adamant that “in order to discourage political assassinations, culprits like [Walus] must be made to pay the price of being removed from society permanently”.

The application is set down for hearing next month.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za