Release of Walus ‘insult to the nation’

The ANC Chris Hani region has expressed disappointment in the justice system for releasing Janusz Walus, who assassinated former SA Communist Party generalsecretary, ANC leader and Umkhonto Wesizwe chief of staff Chris Hani in 1993.

Walus, who has spent nearly 30 years behind bars, is set to be released after the Constitutional Court ordered earlier this week that he be given parole within ten days of the decision.

ANC regional secretary Lusanda Sizani said in a press statement that Walus’s release was “undeserved”.

“It is a very sad day in the memory of our democracy and society that we live to witness the release of a criminal and murderer who hurt our collective feelings beyond measure.

“His actions nearly precipitated a civil war and thereby collapsed the democratic project.

“His brutal acts deprived us of the leadership we so much deserved from the darling of our people, comrade Chris Hani.”

Sizani said the verdict was insensitive and utterly disregarded the pain of the Hani family, the liberation movement and the country’s people.

The regional secretary added that the verdict denigrated Hani’s contribution to the freedom of those who had been victims of the apartheid system.

He remarked that Janusz’s release was a “provocative insult to the collective psyche of the nation”.

It was contrary to what the ANC in the region had expected, which was for Janusz to spend the rest of his life in jail.

“The courts, as institutions that are charged with the responsibility of administering justice, must always avoid pushing the people to define their own recourse in finding the justice they think they deserve.”

Sizani said Janusz had “no space in the democratic society” and that he was advised to “do the right thing” by returning to prison.