Home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has described the uncertainty around Janusz Waluś’s citizenship in SA as “complex”.
There is confusion about Waluś’s status in the country, which comes as authorities prepare to announce what will happen after the release of Chris Hani’s killer from the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional facility.
Speaking to Sowetan yesterday, Motsoaledi said the issue was complex and needed heads put together for a way forward, details of which would be released today.
Waluś’s status in the country could determine whether upon release he is required to serve his parole in SA or be deported back to Poland.
Sowetan’s sister publication, The Sunday Times, yesterday reported that there were still questions about his South African citizenship, which his lawyer, advocate Roelof du Plessis, said was revoked in 2017.
Waluś was officially naturalised in 1987 after arriving in SA in 1981.
“Unfortunately it’s more complex than people are putting it,” Motsoaledi said.
“There are lots of complex legalities on this issue and I only have meetings with my lawyers this evening. It’s a mixture of politics and law, which is complex; which is why we need to put our heads and thoughts together.”
A week ago, the Constitutional Court set aside the decision of justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola to refuse him parole and ordered Waluś’s release within 10 days. The order has been met with outrage from Hani’s family and comrades.
Waluś has spent the past 28 years in prison and was denied parole on four previous occasions.
He and Clive Derby-Lewis were sentenced to death for the murder, but after the abolition of the death penalty their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
Asked for details around preparations for his release, Waluś’s lawyer, Julian Knight, said he was in the dark.
“Since last time I was in court. Since Monday afternoon I have absolutely no idea what happened inside prison.
“Those people (Correctional Services) never discuss anything with anyone. When I finish a case, that’s the end for us. We’re not friends with people [we represent]. Not sure what the internal discussions have been
“Last I saw was that [justice and correctional services minister’s spokesperson] Chrispin [Phiri] said government was looking at the judgment. Nobody has come back to us to say listen... this is the arrangement. We don’t know.... That will be discussed with the offender and the offender’s family.
“I do a lot of parole work for other prisoners, and in many other matters where I’m acting for offenders, I’ll ask what parole recommendations are and I’m told to go through the normal access for information processes,” Knight said.
