Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
30 November 2022 | 11:00 CAT

Polish immigrant Janusz Waluś, convicted for the murder of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani in 1993, is set to be released on Thursday after serving 28 years behind bars.

Photo credit: EWN

Two days before his release, Walus was stabbed by an inmate in the housing unit at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria, where he is serving a 30-year sentence.

However, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confined that Walus is in stable condition and receiving medical attention.

Waluś shot Hani outside his home in Boksburg on 10 April 1993, leaving the country in shock.

Since then, Waluś has applied for parole several times, with the most recent one being denied by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola in March 2020. Lamola cited that the assassination of Hani was intended to create chaos in the country.

Walus then approached the Constitutional Court, and on 21 November, Judge Raymond Zondo ruled that Walus should be released on parole in 10 days following the ruling.

Judge Zondo, in his judgement, said Lamola’s decision to refuse parole to Waluś in 2020 was “irrational” and should be reviewed and set aside.

Unions and political parties across South Africa have not accepted the judgement.

A day before Walus’s release, the African National Congres (ANC) in Gauteng and alliance partners – the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African Communist Party (SACP) have declared Wednesday as the Chris Hani day of action.

The ANC argues that Walus should not be released on parole as the murder of Hani almost led to a civil war in South Africa.