Former MK members to demonstrate against Walus’ release
Members of the Mkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) will stage a demonstration outside the Cape High Court on Tuesday morning before handing a memorandum to Cape Judge President John Hlophe demanding that Chris Hani's killer‚ Janusz Walus‚ be denied parole. Fumanikile Booi‚ chairperson of the MKMVA Dullah Omar region (Cape Town) said MKMVA would ask Hlophe to convey the contents of the memorandum to his colleagues in Pretoria‚ where Minister of Justice Michael Masutha will be seeking leave on Tuesday to appeal the order compelling him to release Walus.Justice Minister to explain why Janusz Walus must stay in jailHani‚ a former commander of Mkhonto We Sizwe and senior leader of the ANC and South African Communist Party‚ was murdered outside his home 23 years ago.We need another Hani now‚ says NzimandeThe murder almost derailed the negotiations process that was eventually to lead‚ a year later‚ to the peaceful transfer of power from the apartheid regime to the democratically elected ANC.Walus and right-wing Afrikaner leader Clive Derby Lewis were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After the abolition of the death penalty in South Africa‚ their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.Both killers applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty in the late 1990s but their applications were turned down. Derby-Lewis was released on parole last June‚ on the basis of ill-health‚ while the High Court last month ordered Walus' release."The soldiers feel very strongly that Comrade Chris' murder was part of conspiracy‚ the full extent of which has never been revealed. Neither of his killers have proven willing to take the nation into their confidence‚ neither have shown remorse‚ and both should therefore continue to rot in jail‚" said Booi."We were dissuaded by our then Commander-in-Chief‚ uTata Mandela‚ from responding militaristically to Comrade Chris' murder‚ and persuaded‚ instead‚ to place our faith in the judiciary. Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen’s remark last month that Comrade Chris' widow‚ Limpho Hani‚ should ‘get over it’ severely shook that faith."..
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