Limpho Hani the wife of the slain SACP leader Chris Hani. Picture: Masi Losi
Limpho Hani, widow to slain South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Chris Hani has appealed for privacy, as she comes to terms with how her husband’s killer, Janusz Waluś was deported to Poland, his country of birth this week without providing full details around the killing.
She, along with the SACP General Secretary have also questioned the timing of Walus’s deportation this week noting that it took place hours just before the assassin’s parole was set to expire.
Walus was deported on Friday.
Alex Mashilo, spokesperson for the SACP gave a snapshot on the events leading to Walus’s deportation.
“This week, the government reached out to Comrade Limpho Hani, Chris Hani’s widow, to arrange a meeting regarding Waluś’ release. Comrade Limpho, as a matter of principle, ensured the SACP’s presence at the meeting held on the evening of Thursday. SACP General Secretary Comrade Solly Mapaila led the Party’s delegation, which included the legal representative of the Hani family and the SACP,” said Mashilo.
The government delegation was headed by Deputy President Paul Mashatile and included three ministers.
While acknowledging the government gesture in providing an update on the Walus’s matter, both the Hani family and the SACP questioned the timing.
“The meeting occurred at 8pm, a few hours before the assassin’s parole ended at midnight. A deportation plan for Waluś, who is neither a South African citizen nor a permanent resident, was already finalised and set to commence the next morning, 6 December 2024,” Mashilo said.
According to the SACP, the move merely illustrated how a right-wing controlled government department had made considerations for Walus’s protection.
“The eleventh-hour notification clearly appeared to be the result of how the Department of Correctional Services, under Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald – leader of the Freedom Front Plus – handled the matter,” Mashilo continued.
He pointed out that during the meeting on Thursday, both the Hani family and the SACP voiced deep concerns over this disregard and urged the Deputy President to provide Cabinet feedback.
“No family of apartheid-era or other victims should ever be treated in this manner. This was a joint appeal grounded in justice and humanity. Additionally, Comrade Limpho Hani and Comrade Mapaila presented the joint call by the Hani family and the SACP for an inquest into Chris Hani’s assassination”, Mashilo said.
The SACP contended that Walus’s deportation was a culmination of the granting of parole to the assassin by the Constitutional Court two years ago, a decision which both the party and the Hani family labelled as a source of profound anger and disappointment.
According to the SACP, the Constitutional Court’s order on 21 November 2022, under the leadership of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, was contentious in that it had been done within a short period of time (ten days), and there had not been full disclosure on Walus’s part.
“ Waluś, a Polish immigrant who cold-bloodedly assassinated our beloved General Secretary, Comrade Chris Hani, on 10 April 1993, has now concluded that parole. Through the past 31 years since the sentencing of Waluś and his co-conspirator, one Clive Derby-Lewis who has since died while on medical parole, our stance remained resolute: both the convicted assassins should have rotted in jail. We demanded full disclosure of the truth about Hani’s assassination. To achieve this, we opposed both amnesty and parole for the convicted assassins and called for an inquest into Hani’s assassination towards closure for the family,” Mashilo said.
He said the granting of parole demonstrated scant regard for the Hani family and the party he led.
“The parole granted to Waluś disregarded the fact that neither he nor his co-conspirators have fully disclosed the truth surrounding the assassination. Justice remains incomplete, and the Hani family, the SACP, and the working class continue to suffer the painful absence of closure,” said Mapaila.
He said Waluś was an unrepentant assassin who was worshipped by unrepentant racists and right-wingers both in South Africa and Poland who sought to defend the perpetuation of the racist regime of apartheid and its social relations.
The week’s developments, according to the SACP had left Limpho Hani with a sense of grief and a let down by justice.
“She has asked to be recused from any engagement with the media or the public on the subject which is quite painful to her and the family,” said Mashilo.
Mapaila vowed that Hani would live forever in the hearts and in the programme of the SACP and the working class. “We will not rest until the full truth is uncovered, justice is served and the revolutionary values Hani stood for are fully realised,” he said.
Mapaila indicated that in the SACP’s conference this week the party will dedicate a session at its Fifth Special National Congress scheduled for December 11 to 14 on the matter.