South Africa's Communist party raises questions over murder of former leader;  Hani

Chris Hani, former general secretary of the South African Communist party, was murdered on 10 April 1993. © AFP/Walter Dhladhla

Text by: Paul Myers

Communist party leaders in South Africa on Monday paid tribute to their former general secretary Chris Hani who was murdered on 10 April 1993 in Johannesburg by a Polish-born rightwing extremist.

The 50-year-old was shot dead as he got out of his car in front of his home in the suburb of Boksburg.

His 15-year-old daughter, Nomakhwezi, witnessed the assault.

Janusz Walus was convicted of the killing and sentenced to life in prison.

Former Conservative party MP, Clive Derby-Lewis, was also jailed for life for conspiracy to murder.

Commemorations to the former anti-apartheid campaigner at a ceremony in Boksburg came as the South African Communist Party (SACP) renewed calls for a fresh investigation into Hani's death.


SACP general secretary, Solly Mapaila, told the French news aency AFP: “There were many factors that were not properly investigated. We need to know the truth.”

Mapaila added that an online petition calling for a new inquest had garnered more than 20,000 signatures.

On Monday, during a memorial service for Hani at the Thomas Nkobi Memorial Park in Boksburg, Mapaila said: "As long as we are gathered here, Chris will never die."

Hailing the former leader of the ANC's military wing, Mapaila added: "Chris lived and died for socialism. He lived and died for the upliftment of the poor and the unemployed. He lived and died for the working class."

Hani's widow, Limpho, told the service her family still had questions about the attack.
No closure

“I don’t have closure,” she added. “That is why I am wearing black today. Until such time the truth comes out I am in mourning for life.”

At the time of the trial it emerged that Walus and Derby-Lewis had hoped to provoke racial conflict with the killing.

And though the attack led to protests and rioting in black townships, the ANC boss Nelson Mandela appeared on national television to appeal for calm.

His intervention helped to defuse tensions and pave the way towards South Africa’s first multi-racial elections in 1994.

Derby-Lewis was released in 2015 on medical parole and died of lung cancer in 2016, aged 80.

Walus was freed on parole last December.

“The democratic government, which my husband died for, has betrayed Chris and his family by releasing his assassin,” Limpho Hani added.

“The killer is free. And the opportunity for full truth on the wide conspiracy of Chris Hani's assassination is now buried and lost completely.”