Hani killer savours freedom after 22 years in jail
KILLER Clive Derby-Lewis is enjoying his first taste of freedom this weekend with champagne, sausage rolls and sandwiches.
His wife Gaye Derby-Lewis said her husband had experienced “a feeling of absolute contentment” when he walked into his house in Pretoria on Friday night.
“He didn’t say a word; he just savoured the moment. He went into the garden and all over just to familiarise himself with the place.”
Yesterday a friend arrived with some snoek, a treat for the 79-year-old who has spent 22 years in prison.
But while Derby-Lewis was enjoying home comforts, the South African Communist Par- ty said it was disappointed with Judge Selby Baqwa’s ruling.
The SACP said Baqwa had been “overzealous and stepped out of the bounds of his ju- risdiction”. The party said Derby-Lewis “has never been remorseful as the judge claimed”.
Last week Baqwa ordered that Derby-Lewis, who suffers from terminal cancer, be released on medical parole.
The minister of justice and correctional services, Michael Masutha, and the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board were given until Friday June 5 to determine Derby-Lewis’s parole conditions.
Yesterday an emotional Gaye Derby-Lewis said: “He’s very thrilled with his new-found freedom. Nobody understands what freedom is until they’ve lost it.
“It’s a relief. We’ve lived under this shadow for a long, long time and most people who are free don’t understand it.”
Derby-Lewis’s stringent pa- role conditions prohibit him from speaking to the media.
His wife said that yesterday morning he told her it was nice to eat with a knife and fork at a table. “He hasn’t done that for 22 years while he was sitting in a cell.”
Derby-Lewis was sentenced to jail for his part in the assassination of SACP leader Chris Hani on April 10 1993, outside Hani’s Boksburg home.
Gaye said if her husband had to send a message to the nation, it would be: “While you are alive, there’s always hope. Just have faith. Believe in the Almighty and he will guide you and show you the way.”
Derby-Lewis’s homecoming was a low-key affair.
A bottle of champagne was opened but his wife said they were too tired to enjoy it.
They also had sandwiches, sausage rolls, cool drinks and hot coffee.
She said a special room had been prepared for her husband’s homecoming.
He had woken up at about 4am yesterday, but went back to sleep for another three hours.
“He said it’s the first time he ever did that. I think it’s the relief.”
Gaye said that her husband “was planning to do all sorts of things, including writing”.
He was overjoyed to watch a rugby match on television yesterday morning. “Maybe we will go out for a walk but he’s not well. I can hear his coughing.”
Gaye said her husband, who belongs to the Afrikaans Protestant Church, was expecting a possible visit by a priest today.