Hani killer to serve two-year parole in SA, with strict conditions
Janusz Waluś, the Polish immigrant who assassinated South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani in 1993, has been released on parole. Waluś left hospital on Wednesday after being stabbed in prison last week.
Correctional Services spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said Waluś would “serve two years under community corrections in line with the parole regime...
“There is no question offender Waluś is a polarising figure in our budding constitutional democracy and his release has understandably reopened wounds among some in society...
“Offender Waluś’s actions sought to derail the democratic project at its most critical, formative stage, when the choice of either setting the country on a sustainable path of peace, democracy and reconciliation on the one hand or chaos, civil strife and blood-letting on the other, was constantly one bad decision away.”
The Hani killing came when talks for transition to democracy were at a delicate stage.
Waluś was convicted of murder in October 1993 and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished.
Waluś made several applications for parole after becoming eligible in 2005.
On 21 November 2022, the Constitutional Court ordered Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to release Waluś on parole. He had been behind bars for 28 years. Waluś was stabbed two days before his due release date.
The minister refused Waluś parole in March 2020, but Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found the decision “irrational” and ordered that it be reviewed and set aside. Zondo said more than 15 years had passed since Waluś had become eligible for parole.
The judgment sparked anger, with SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila calling it “sickeningly disappointing”. Hani’s widow Limpho said karma would haunt Zondo.
The EFF said it was disturbed by the “diabolical, cynical and harmful release of Waluś”.
Phiri explained: “In previously denying him parole, the decision was not in the spirit of avenging a stalwart of our liberation struggle, but it has always been within the context of giving effect to the interests of justice, from the perspective of what the sentencing court sought to achieve.”
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has granted an exemption for Waluś to remain in the country to serve his parole.
The order states Waluś may not use any travel document and/or passport issued by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland to return to the country of his origin.
Speaking on Radio 702, Waluś’s lawyer Julian Knight said his client had a right to be deported to his country of birth.
Waluś has to comply with strict conditions, which include being monitored, not using alcohol or illegal drugs and refraining from visiting certain places.