ANC, SACP members try to storm Kgosi Mampuru prison
THE quick action of correctional services officers prevented Gauteng ANC and SACP supporters from storming the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre with the aim of pouncing on Polish immigrant Janusz Walus – killer of former SACP general secretary Chris Hani.
The drama unfolded yesterday at the main entrance of the maximum security prison when some of the protesters rushed to the gate with the clear intention to open it and allow fellow protesters to gain access.
They were 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 for 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.
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 the ongoing soccer World Cup in Qatar. He made the comments prior to Poland playing 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 if Walus was in a government hospital, their progressive union members “must do the right thing”.
ANC national executive committee member Nomvula Mokonyane echoed these views at a gathering in Cape Town, saying: “Janusz Walus bigger things are coming. If Janusz Walus is released on parole, we want 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.”
Common among these leaders was their condemnation of the Constitutional Court ruling to release Walus on parole.