Derby-Lewis can’t defend himself

Chris Hani’s convicted killer claims pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru Prison is ‘out of control’.

Clive Derby-Lewis believes he is no longer safe and will die in jail unless the court intervenes to set him free. The 78-year-old’s urgent application for his immediate unconditional release from prison was this week removed from the court roll in the North Gauteng High Court to allow for the further fi ling of court papers.

Derby-Lewis was in 1993 sentenced to death along with Janusz Walus for supplying the firearm used to kill SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani.

Derby-Lewis alleged in a lengthy affidavit Kgosi Mampuru Prison was “out of control” and nobody was safe there.

He said there had already been two attempts to kill him in prison and threats to lock him up in solitary confinement would make him more vulnerable to an attack because he was unable to defend himself against attacks from gangsters.

He alleged correctional services officials had aided his attacker, who in March assaulted him with a piece of glass. He claims officials did nothing to stop the attack.

He had to obtain two court orders to force correctional services to take him for medical treatment for, among others, a broken arm, collapsed lung, hypertension, heart failure and cancer and said they demanded huge amounts for transport every time he wanted to see a doctor.

“I cannot take care of myself any more and I need constant medical assistance, which the prison cannot provide,” he said.

The former Conservative Party MP maintained he had already qualified for release on parole in 2007, but his parole had become a political play. He said his wife had launched a medical parole application on his behalf in May, but was told words such as “dying” and “terminally ill” needed to be avoided in the application papers as correctional services believed they “are provoking the spirits of the forefathers”.

Correctional services opposed the application, saying it was “bad in law”, that Derby-Lewis did not qualify for parole in any event and the court had no power to order his release.