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SACP, Chris Hani’s family exploring other avenues after ConCourt ruling on Waluś parole
The SACP and Hani's family will approach to the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
SACP members protest over the release of Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus, outside the Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on 26 November 2022. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The South African Communist Party (SACP) and Chris Hani’s family are not giving up on their efforts to have Janusz Waluś back in prison.
On Saturday, the SACP and the family confirmed that they would to head to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.
This comes after the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) dismissed the SACP and Limpho Hani’s application to reverse its ruling on Waluś’s parole.
In its judgment delivered on Friday, the ConCourt found that the applicants failed to make a case for a rescission.
Overlap
The apex court said it had considered the SACP and Limpho’s application and noted that “there was much overlap” between the applicants and Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola’s submissions.
“In particular, on the only two factors on the basis of which the minister had refused Mr Walus’ parole application, the submissions of the minister and the applicants were essentially the same.
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“The minister never relied on the fact that Mr Walus’ SA citizenship had been revoked to contend that Mr Walus should not be granted parole,” the court stated in its ruling.
“The fact that Mr Walus never made a full disclosure before the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] was not one of the factors that needed to be taken into account in terms of the department’s policy or the Correctional Services Act in determining whether parole should be granted,” the judgment further reads.
‘This matter cannot end here’
In their response, the SACP and Hani’s family stated that they were “deeply disappointed” by the judgment.
“In its decision, the Constitutional Court moves from implying to concluding that it has considered our submissions by considering the minister’s submissions when it ordered him to place the convicted assassin on parole. This matter cannot end here,” the SACP said in a statement on Saturday.
RELATED: Waluś should be released to Poland, ‘or he’ll be a burden for SA’s security establishment’
“Having exhausted all legal avenues available in South Africa, the SACP and the Hani family are determinedly continuing with following the avenue to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights in response to the Constitutional Court judgment,” the party said.
“We also demand a full inquest into the assassination of Chris Hani. We want full disclosure of the truth and all the circumstances surrounding the assassination for justice to take its course.”
Parole conditions
The ConCourt’s judgment came two days after Waluś was discharged from hospital.
His release was delayed after he was stabbed by a fellow inmate at the Kgosi Mampuru correctional facility in Pretoria, where he was serving his sentence.
According to the Department of Correctional Services, that Waluś’ parole comes with strict conditions and that he would serve two years under community corrections.
READ MORE: May people ‘see what they do’ with Waluś now that he is out of prison – EFF
“If he violates the conditions, he will be returned to a correctional centre,” the department said in a statement on Wednesday.
Waluś, a Polish immigrant, was serving a life sentence for killing SACP leader Chris Hani outside his home in Boksburg on 10 April 1993, with the support of Clive Derby-Lewis.
He was then quickly arrested and handed a death sentence – a punishment which was commuted to life imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished in post-apartheid South Africa.
