Statement by the SACP and the Hani family on the interview by the ex-convict who assassinated comrade Chris Hani
SACP Communications
South African Communist Party
Statement by the SACP and the Hani family on the interview by the ex-convict who assassinated comrade Chris Hani
Wednesday, 29 January 2025: - The South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Hani family, represented by comrade Limpho Hani, have reviewed the interview conducted by eNCA with Janusz Waluś, the ex-convict who assassinated comrade Chris Hani. The interview, aired on Sunday, 26 January 2025, was pre-arranged and recorded in Poland, following his release on parole in 2024 under a 2022 Constitutional Court order.
We reiterate our call for a thorough inquest into the assassination of Chris Hani and urge the state to act with urgency. Justice delayed is justice denied. Let it be clear: the struggle for justice, equality and the complete dismantling of apartheid’s legacy is not over. We will not allow the memory of Chris Hani to be tarnished, nor will we permit unrepentant assassins to distort the truth of our history.
Chris Hani, who was brutally assassinated on 10 April 1993, was the General Secretary of the SACP and a member of the ANC National Executive Committee. Chris Hani, the husband and father, and Chris Hani, the SACP General Secretary, ANC National Executive Committee member and former Chief of Staff of uMkhonto weSizwe, was 100 per cent the same, inseparable person. His assassination by Janusz Waluś and his co-conspirator, Clive Derby-Lewis, brought South Africa to the brink of civil war, claiming additional lives as the nation teetered on the edge of civil war. While Clive Derby-Lewis has since died after being granted medical parole, Waluś remains unrepentant.
The assassin revealed absolutely no new information during the interview. Waluś merely regurgitated what has long been widely reported in the media, including what he said about the visit to Clive Derby-Lewis in prison by Jacob Zuma when he was the Deputy President in the mid-2000s. The repetition of old stories largely revolved around the claims made by the assassins in their failed application for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the responses to this application from the SACP and the Hani family through our legal team, and the commission’s rightful decision to deny the assassins amnesty – because they did not make full disclosure of the truth. The old stories repeated by the assassin include those presented in their numerous applications for parole, affidavits and in other court papers, among other sources.
Although this was a mere interview and nothing under oath, the assassin’s refusal to engage meaningfully, often claiming he would “restrict himself to what is relevant,” underscores his ongoing evasion of accountability, and his intentional lack of remorse. The SACP and the Hani family have consistently maintained that Waluś remains unremorseful. This was argued extensively in court, including at the Constitutional Court, where Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and his concurring judges insisted otherwise, that Waluś had shown remorse. Instead, to our surprise, the court placed the burden of remorse on Limpho Hani by citing her rejection of or so-called non-reply to Waluś’ letter of apology – which she never received. In response, comrade Limpho Hani stated: “I never knew how strong I was until I had to forgive someone who wasn’t sorry, and accept an apology I never received.”
The deep disappointment of that judgment, delivered on 21 November 2022, has been reignited by Waluś’ continued display of no remorse. His open declaration that he would assassinate Chris Hani again under similar circumstances demonstrates his complete lack of regret and exposes the flawed assertion of his supposed remorse.
Furthermore, Waluś’ interview underscored his deeply entrenched racism and white supremacist ideology, including the apartheid-era malicious agenda to sow division among the black majority and turn them against each other. He disparaged South Africa’s black majority, shamelessly insisting that they should have been confined to the apartheid-imposed bantustans, which is where, he further insisted, their right to vote must have been restricted. This would have left South Africa as a white supremacists-dominated country and state. His utterances are a stark reminder of the oppressive ideologies that drove his heinous crime.
The SACP and the Hani family condemn in the strongest possible terms Waluś’ unrepentant stance, his racist attitude and his continued glorification of apartheid-era atrocities. His actions and utterances insult the memory of Chris Hani, the sacrifices of the South African people and the hard-won democratic gains for which Hani dedicated his life to achieve. In the courts, the SACP and the Hani family have maintained that Waluś, as a convicted assassin who was – and still is – driven by a racist ideological motive, has remained unwilling to renounce that ideology and continued to be unrepentant. Anyone who cares can see this for themselves, unlike those who accept false remorse and impose their acceptance of the non-existent remorse on the victim’s family.