Pretoria – ANC MPs joined by Mandla Mandela, the tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council, and the grandson of icon Nelson Mandela, protested outside Parliament on Wednesday against the release of Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus.
Walus gunned down the South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Hani in the driveway of his Boksburg home in 1993.
He is set to be released on Thursday after the unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court to grant him parole.
The decision to release Walus has been met by a lot of criticism from the ANC and its alliance partners, the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
The tripartite alliance demands an inquest into the assassination of Hani. They say the release of Walus on parole has reduced their chances of finding the truth.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Mandela said Walus has never revealed who had hired him to kill Hani.
“He has not shown the spirit of reconciliation that was championed by our founding fathers of democracy. The TRC afforded people to tell it all, to speak about the brutal atrocities of the past and who were the culprits involved … Therefore we want justice to be upheld, we want him to be kept in jail,” he said.
Meanwhile in Pretoria, the tripartite alliance marched to Kgosi Mampuru Prison to demonstrate against the release of Walus.
The march was led Gauteng’s premier, Panyaza Lesufi.
He said when Walus walks out of prison, it must be a “walk of shame”.
“Do not impose reconciliation on us. Reconciliation is a process and that particular process must be thoroughly followed and there must be a part where people must come clean and declare their interests,” he said.
Walus, set to be released from the Pretoria prison on Thursday, was stabbed by an inmate on Tuesday.
Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said: “A detailed incident report is to be provided at a later stage, but what can be stated at this point is that inmate Walus is stable and DCS healthcare officials are providing the necessary care.”
A former MK and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member, originally from Ekurhuleni, has been identified by inmates as the one behind the stabbing of Walus.
The identity of the inmate is known to Independent Media, but it is being withheld due to ongoing investigations.
