JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Janusz Walus, the convicted killer of South Africa’s anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani, will be deported to his home country of Poland after his parole came to an end this week, the government announced on Friday.
Hani, who was the leader of the African National Congress’ military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, was shot outside his home in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, in 1993.
His assassination threatened to plunge South Africa into political violence ahead of its transition from white minority rule to democracy.
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Walus, 71, spent over 28 years in jail after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. He was released on parole following a ruling of the Constitutional Court in 2022.
Clive Derby-Lewis, a former politician who was sentenced together with Walus for the murder, was released on medical parole in 2015 and died from cancer in 2016. The two were initially sentenced to death but their sentences became life sentences when South Africa became a democracy and abolished the death penalty. Derby-Lewis is considered to have planned the murder, while Walus was the triggerman.
News of Walus’ release in 2022 was criticized among various sectors of society, sparking protests outside the prison where he was held. He had to be hospitalized after he was stabbed in prison a few days before his pending release.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Friday that Walus would be deported to Poland and that the Polish government would bear all costs of the deportation process.
Ntshavheni emphasized that the decision to release Walus on parole was taken by the highest court in the country and the government has always opposed his release.
“Since 2011 our ministers of justice and correctional services have fought against the parole, but there is no appeal beyond the Constitutional Court, when it has made an order that decision is final,” she said.
Walus was granted an extension for residence in South Africa after his citizenship was revoked in 2017 while he was in prison and was allowed to serve his parole in South Africa instead of being immediately deported.
The announcement of his deportation was immediately met with criticism by the South African Communist Party, which believes that Walus has never shown remorse for his action nor provided all information about Hani’s death, including who ordered it.
The ANC has also called for a full inquest into Hani’s death.
“Today the murderer of our leader will be released from prison, if not released already, taking with him to his homeland the truth about the assassination of our leader.
“We are reminded of the immense loss inflicted on our movement and our nation,” said ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula on Friday.
