Hani's daughter's request to Walus

Chris Hani's daughter Lindiwe wants to meet her father's killer, Janusz Walus, in prison next week. The Sunday Times can exclusively reveal today that she has requested a meeting with Walus for "a victim-offender dialogue".

The surprise twist comes after the Hani family's steadfast refusal to accept Walus's apology or to meet him.

Lindiwe's request came a day after Judge Nicoline Janse van Nieuwenhuizen of the High Court in Pretoria ordered Walus's release on parole within 14 days.

It has also emerged that amid calls by the ANC for him to be deported to his country of birth, Poland, Walus had written to the Department of Home Affairs in 2013 to renounce his South African citizenship, which he received in 1987.

Details of Lindiwe's request are contained in a letter, dated March 11, written by Walus's attorney, Julian Knight, to the head of Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria, according to a correctional services official.

Knight was unavailable for comment yesterday.

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Walus, 63, who has served 23 years of his sentence for murdering Hani on April 10 1993, was sentenced to death on October 15 that year. T his was commuted to life imprisonment in November 2000.

Walus's co-conspirator, Clive Derby-Lewis, also jailed for life, was released on medical parole in June last year.

In her judgment, Janse van Nieuwenhuizen said Walus, as far back as 2011, had made "various endeavours to personally apologise to the Hani family" but that they had refused to accept an apology or meet him.

In a letter to Hani's widow, Limpho, on October 6 2014, Walus wrote: "I do owe this apology to you for a very long time. Mrs Hani I do know that whatever I would do, will not compensate for what I have done to you. The only thing that I can do is say I am deeply sorry for what I have subjected you to through all those years."

The judge said similar letters had been sent to Hani's two daughters, with no response.

After this week's judgment, Limpho told Radio 702: "I don't want his apology.

"All I want is for him and whoever is supporting him to tell me what happened. We don't know the truth."

Asked yesterday to confirm whether she had made a request to meet Walus, Lindiwe said: "No comment, I am not speaking to the media."

Commenting on Walus's 2013 letter, home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said the department saw it as an attempt to circumvent the system.

"No determination was made because we were being extremely cautious of unwittingly making his sentence shorter than it needs to be. We were thinking he would use it [renouncement of his citizenship] as a parole argument to ask to serve out the rest of his sentence in Poland.

Should he go [to Poland] . . . he would  mean he would be free from completing his sentence

"When the time is right we are going to make our announcements on his status."

Grazyna Koornhof, spokeswoman for the Polish embassy in Pretoria, said yesterday that they could not comment.

Speaking to the Sunday Times earlier this week, Knight confirmed that he had suggested to Justice Minister Michael Masutha's office that Walus renounce his citizenship and be deported to Poland.

"The suggestion was taken to the minister who point-blank refused. I find it ironic that the ANC is now calling for him to be deported. The only problem is, you can't deport a South African citizen.

"I think he would dearly love to go back to Poland as there's nothing that he holds dear in this country.

"Unfortunately, if he's on parole, he won't be able to leave the magisterial district of probably Pretoria, so he wouldn't be able to return to Poland."

Justice Department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said his department's only focus was to study the judgment and decide whether to appeal.

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SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo described Walus's 2013 request as disingenuous, saying his legal team knew that, in the absence of a prisoner exchange programme between South Africa and Poland, renouncement of his citizenship ultimately meant that he would be freed from prison.

"Should he leave and go to reside in that country while we do not have a prisoner exchange programme, it will mean he would be free from completing his sentence because to be on parole does not mean you have finished serving your sentence.

"Walus must serve his sentence. All of it. We are going to fight for an appeal."

Reacting to Walus's parole, Derby-Lewis's wife, Gaye, said: "I am very happy for him. I think he would want to go back to Poland ... My message to him would be: 'Enjoy it [being out on parole]; it's deserved.'"

She said his release was "long overdue" and that he should have been granted parole eight years ago.

"It must have been hell for him, particularly after my husband was granted parole and he was still in prison. I am really glad that the laws have prevailed."

She hoped the Hani family would one day accept Walus's apology.

"What does it help to carry this feeling of vengefulness in your heart? You can't live happily like that. It's time to go forward."

govenderp@sundaytimes.co.za, skitis@sundaytimes.co.za