The assassination of struggle hero Chris Hani was no ordinary murder, and nearly plunged the country into a civil war that would have further postponed the emancipation of the African in this country. On the morning of April 10 1993, a white man of Polish origin Janusz Waluś accosted Hani in the driveway of his Boksburg, East Rand, home and shot him dead.
It was a treasonous deed that deeply wounded a nation on the cusp of much-anticipated freedom. It robbed the nation of a capable leader who no doubt was destined to shape its future. Such was the stature and power of Martin Thembekile “Chris” Hani that indeed even in death he shaped the way and his legacy would never be buried and forgotten.
Bearing testimony to that is that 30 years after Hani’s death his influence is still felt, brought to the fore at the news of Waluś’s imminent release on parole as ordered by the Constitutional Court on Monday.
Hani’s tragic death, as his widow Limpho reminded the nation minutes after the judgment, hastened the dawn of freedom and a new order based on human rights and the rule of just law in which all South Africans are equal before the law.
That, unfortunately and unpalatable as it is, also means that those who for years denied their fellow compatriots all forms of human rights stand to benefit from the fruits of Hani’s toil. And that includes his assassin.
Hani died in the middle of ongoing – albeit suspended at the time – negotiations for a settlement on which our new democracy would be founded. There was no revolutionary army that marched triumphantly into the seat of power in Pretoria to liberate us, and with that came the consequences of a negotiated peace. It benefited unremorseful killers such as Waluś and his co-conspirator Clive Derby-Lewis, who died a few years ago, out on parole.
Waluś’s parole, painful as it is, serves to illustrate that as a people we need to live with our choices, warts and all, and this is what came with the Convention for a Democratic SA settlement.
We understand and fully empathise with the Hani family, especially Mrs Hani, who has to endure on a personal level the hurt of the loss of Chris Hani. We understand her outrage. It is not anybody’s place to prescribe to her and the family how to mourn Hani and how long to do so and how she chooses to continue his legacy. And shame on those who derive sadistic pleasure at her prolonged pain.
Lastly, we appeal to those wont to abuse the ruling for their nefarious, selfish political agenda to please respect the memory of Hani and not turn this into a political football, especially going into the ANC conference.
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