Angry ANC, SACP supporters bay for Janusz Walus’s blood
THE quick action of correctional services officers prevented Gauteng ANC and SACP supporters from storming the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre with the sole aim of pouncing on Polish immigrant Janusz Walus – the killer of former SACP general secretary Chris Hani.
The drama unfolded yesterday at the main entrance of the prison, when some of the protesters rushed to the gate with the clear intention of opening it and allowing fellow protesters to gain access into the maximum security prison.
They were clearly baying for Walus's blood, after the Constitutional Court ordered that Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola release him on parole.
Walus has spent 29 years incarcerated at the centre, following his role in the murder of Hani on April 10, 1993.
But their plan was quickly foiled, as correctional services officers overpowered them and closed the gate.
The plot to storm the centre happened despite reports from correctional services that Walus was receiving medical treatment at a government hospital after he was stabbed by a fellow prisoner on Tuesday.
It is not clear if the protesters acted out of instinct – Gauteng ANC leader Panyaza Lesufi seemed to have approved their failed act. Lesufi told the correctional services officers, who stood guard, to open the gates and allow them access to Walus.
“We are here for Janusz Walus, and not you. We want to ruffle him up a bit before throwing him up in the air,” he said.
Poland and its football team were also targeted when Lesufi urged SACP and ANC members to support any team playing against the Polish in Qatar. He made the comments prior to Poland's game against Argentina last night.
“You must favour Argentina like you support Bafana Bafana,” he said.
Lesufi's comments were supported by thousands of people and some were clearly agitating for a revenge attack, saying the person who stabbed Walus – believed to be a former member of Umkhonto we Sizwe – had not completed the job.
The same sentiments were expressed by Lesufi.
The SACP Young Communist League's Tinyiko Ntini was more blatant, saying that if Walus was in a government hospital, their progressive union members “must do the right thing”.
ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Nomvula Mokonyane indirectly echoed the same views at a separate gathering in Cape Town, saying “Janusz Walus's bigger things are coming”.
“If Janusz Walus is released on parole, we want the Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi to give us his address.
“As neighbours, we want to visit him and ask him who instructed and masterminded the murder of Chris Hani,” Mokonyane said.
A common sentiment among the leaders was their condemnation of the Constitutional Court ruling. They maintained the Constitutional Court justices had failed to acknowledge that Hani's widow, Limpho Hani, was not consulted prior to the decision to release Walus on parole.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila reiterated this view, saying his party had also not been consulted. He added that “even comrade Limpho Hani never received a letter of apology from Walus”.
Mapaila said it was for these reasons that they filed an application to the Constitutional Court for it to rescind Walus's parole.
Despite opposing the parole, Mapaila endorsed Motsoaledi's decision to restore Walus's citizenship, saying the government must ensure that he continued his parole sentence in the country.
It appears that trouble is not only looming for Walus, as ministers and deputy ministers deployed by the Gauteng ANC who were not part of the protest action could be axed as public representatives of the ANC, if Lesufi has his way.
“Those ANC ministers and deputy ministers who were deployed by the Gauteng ANC... we will show them something at the elective conference,” he said.
Lesufi was also adamant that his party would retain power in Gauteng in 2024.