JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA FEBRUARY 24: Solly Mapaila, Chris Mahlako and Blade Nzimande during a press briefing after the SACP’s first plenary session of the year on February 24, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the briefing, the SACP criticised the ANC, for taking a decision to unbundle Eskom into three entities without any prior consultation. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulani Mbele)
SACP: Until Walus discloses who gave him the gun to assassinate Chris Hani, he must remain in prison
The communist party maintains that the latest attempt by Janusz Walush to obtain parole in the Pretoria High court should be rejected.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA FEBRUARY 24: Solly Mapaila, Chris Mahlako and Blade Nzimande during a press briefing after the SACP’s first plenary session of the year on February 24, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the briefing, the SACP criticised the ANC, for taking a decision to unbundle Eskom into three entities without any prior consultation. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulani Mbele)
The South African Communist Party has taken exception to the use of the concept of Ubuntu in pleading for assassin Janusz Walus to be released on parole.
On Tuesday 10 November the Pretoria High court heard arguments in the Walus parole case. The Polish convicted murderer is serving a life sentence for the1993 assassination of SACP General Secretary and Umkhonto we Sizwe chief of Staff, Chris Hani. He was refused parole by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola on his third attempt on 7 October 2019. His legal counse,l advocate Roelof du Plessis argued that Walus who has served 27 years behind bars thus far, had done everything in his power to show that he had been rehabilitated and was remorseful for the killing.
A social worker submitted a report in which she said Walus was truly remorseful and that he had tried to reach out to the Hani family to apologise.
Speaking to The South African, SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said the use of the Ubuntu concept was inappropriate because Walus’ act of killing Hani was not an act of Ubuntu.
“We dismissed the argument on Ubuntu right in the court because it is completely inappropriate. The assassination of Chris Hani…was not an act of ubuntu,” said Mashilo
He added that South Africans must discourage a situation where someone assassinates another person and then when they are meant to serve their sentence they ask for ubuntu consideration.
WHO PROVIDED THE MURDER WEAPON
Mashilo argues that Walus has not shown remorse because among others, he still has not renounced his wayward anti-communism ideology.
“An assassin is not an ordinary murderer, an assassin in this situation is someone who in his own way was motivated by his anti-communist ideology to murder Chris Hani. The assassin has not renounced the ideology that he says motivated him to commit the assassination.”
Mashilo further argued that the Polish had not fully disclosed the names of other accomplices, which he contends further disproves the argument of a remorseful man.
“The murder weapon used to assassinate Chris Hani was taken from military armoury under apartheid conditions. We all know that it would not have been an ordinary person who would have infiltrated a military base under apartheid conditions, who would have taken that murder weapon from the military for it to be used in the assassination of Chris Hani. To this day it remains part of the hidden truth”, he added
SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo
Judge Elizabeth Kubushi reserved judgement in the matter.
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