Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Hani killer awaits SCA parole verdict
CHRIS Hani’s co- assassin, Janus Walusz, will know in three weeks if the Supreme Court of Appeal will consider his parole application.
The court halted the hearing yesterday, following a decision by a full bench to request additional heads of argument.
The court said a victim impact statement from the Hani family had not been considered when the Pretoria High Court considered Walusz’s parole application.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha appealed the decision by the Pretoria High Court in March last year to grant parole to Walusz.
Yesterday the SACP welcomed the reprieve granted by the SCA, saying it would help bolster the case against Walusz. The SACP has maintained that Walusz never made full disclosure about the murder of Hani outside his home in Boksburg in April 1993.
It claimed there were still many unanswered questions, and that Walusz had not fully co-operated in the process.
The Appeal Court postponed the case to May 29.
“The SCA’s correct decision stands in sharp contrast to the unfair argument by the North Gauteng High Court Judge Nicolene Janse van Niewenhuizen who granted Walusz parole a year ago,” said the SACP.
“Judge Van Niewenhuizen remarked that the views of the Hani family did not matter, and that the family had to move on 23 years after the murder. The SACP condemned this inconsiderate, insensitive, uncaring remarks, which we believe played a central role in her decision to grant Walusz parole,” it said.
The party said Walusz still harboured anger against communists and remained a threat to society.
Walusz arrived in South Africa in the early 1980s from Poland. He has tried to get parole for several years, but has never succeeded.
His co-accused Clive DerbyLewis was released on medical parole in 2015 and died last year of cancer. Derby- Lewis and Walusz were refused amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for failing to make a full disclosure.
Last month the government declared Hani’s grave a Heritage site.