The South African Communist Party (SACP) has welcomed Justice Minister Ronald Lamola’s decision to deny Janusz Walus parole.
67-year-old Walus is serving life imprisonment for the murder of SACP Secretary-General, Chris Hani, outside his home in Boksburg east of Johannesburg in April 1993.
The death penalty of Walus was commuted to life imprisonment.
The court set aside former Justice Minister Michael Masutha’s decision to refuse Walus’ parole in September 2018. In the video below, Masutha briefs the media on reasons for denying Waluz parole.
SACP Spokesperson Dr Alex Malatji says they will defend any appeal. “They have been appealing from the moment he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He never wanted to serve anytime in jail. He went to the truth and reconciliation commission. We must remind the people of South Africa that the commission denied him amnesty on the basis he failed to make full disclosure of that. This battle for Hani is the battle we are prepared to fight to the end.”
Walus shot and killed Hani outside his home in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, in April 1993.
In September 2018, the High Court ruled that the parole board failed to include relevant information in its recommendation to the Justice minister.
This includes among others, the failure by the parole board to offer Walus a chance to reply to its suggestion that he remains incarcerated. Several attempts for his release have repeatedly been denied.
The decision then went back to Lamola to decide the fate of Walus.
In the audio below, Lamola’s Spokesperson, Crispin Phiri speaks about the reasons for denying the parole:
