WITHIN THE next 10 days, Chris Hani’s killer will walk out of prison – a free man.
And Hani’s enraged widow has issued a dark warning to the Constitutional Court judges.
“I’M GIVING THEM TWO YEARS, INCLUDING THAT ZONDO OF YOURS. KARMA IS REAL!” SHE SAID.
Januzs Walus, the man who shot and killed Chris Hani at his Dawn Park home in Ekurhuleni in 1993, will walk from prison on parole.
This follows a Constitutional Court ruling on Monday, 21 November.
Hani’s widow, Limpho, has reacted angrily to decision to release Walus from prison. She said karma was coming for the Constitutional Court judges for their decision to release her husband’s killer.
“I’m giving them two years, including that Zondo of yours. They could not be bothered. All of them. I have been in and out of court and Walus lost all his cases.
“Now he comes here to the Constitutional Court and because they are gods, what they say goes. Watch this space. Talk to me in two years. Karma exists,” she told reported outside court.
“This judgment is diabolical. I have never seen anything like this. My understanding of Zondo’s judgment is that Walus did well to kill my husband.”
SACP secretary general Solly Mapaila said they were disappointed and deeply shocked by the judgment.
“This judgment is made by the apex court of the country but we are shattered by this. We think it is inconsistent with many issues that were referred. One may say that today justice has given birth to injustice,” he said.
Mapaila said they have to accept the ruling of the court. Delivering the judgment, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said he was mindful of the fact that Walus’ assassination of the SACP leader nearly plunged South Africa into a civil war.
However, he said, those who drafted the Bill of Rights conferred the rights on everyone and not just those who fought for democracy. “That includes those who supported apartheid with all of their hearts,” he said.
“The appeal is upheld. The minister of Justice and Correctional Services is ordered to place the applicant on parole, on such terms and conditions as he may deem appropriate.”
He said he found the Minister Ronald Lamola’s decision to refuse to place the Polish national on parole irrational.
“Lamola relied on the nature of the crime and its seriousness to refuse to grant parole which are factors that will not change,” said Zondo.
He said Lamola failed to explain why such factors were his main reason.
Zondo said it was accepted Walus’ showed remorse and that the risk of re-offending is low. The convicted murderer also apologised to Hani’s wife.
Zondo said, ordinarily, the court would remit the mater to the minister but decided to make the decision itself because of the history of the case.
He said not only has the applicant served 28 years in jail, but he complied with all requirements for parole but various ministers rejected his application.
He became eligible for parole in 2005.
Walus’ was convicted with right-wing politician Clive Derby-Lewis for the murder of Hani on 15 October 1993 on one charge of murder and the illegal possession of a firearm. They were sentenced to death for the murder, and given five years for the possession of the illegal firearm.
The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on 7 November 2000 when South Africa abolished the death penalty. Derby-Lewis, who ordered the hit was granted medical parole in 2015. He died of cancer the following year.
