
Members of the ANC and SACP protested in front of the Kgosi Mampuru prison last year regarding the release of Janusz Walus (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
Limpho Hani, widow of the former SAKP leader Chris Hani, said on Monday during the 30th anniversary of the assassination of her husband that she does not get closure.
“That’s why I’m wearing black today. Until the truth comes out, I am in mourning,” Hani’s widow said during an anniversary event in Boksburg.
“The democratic government, for which my husband died, betrayed him and his family by releasing his assassin. And the opportunity for the full truth about the broad conspiracy of the Chris Hani assassination is now buried and completely lost.”
Last week, the SACP requested a new inquest into the murder.
“There are many factors that have not been properly investigated,” said Solly Mapaila, SACP leader. “We need to know the truth.”
Hani was shot dead on 10 April 1993 in front of his house in Boksburg.
Janusz Walus, Hani’s killer, was finally released on parole in December after 28 years behind bars. However, the 69-year-old Walus’ release was only delayed after a fellow prisoner stabbed him in prison with a sharp object and he first had to receive medical treatment.
Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis were both given the death penalty for Hani’s murder. The sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.
Derby-Lewis was released on medical parole in 2015 and died in November 2016.