Convicted murderer Janusz Walus is now a free man. Walus was released on parole this morning by the Correctional Services Department Minister Ronald Lamola following an order by the Constitutional court two weeks ago.
The 69-year-old Polish immigrant spent 25 years of his life in jail for killing SACP leader Chris Hani on 10 April 1993. Hani, an anti-apartheid leader and former Umkhonto Wesizwe chief of staff, was assassinated on an Easter weekend at his home in Dawn Park in Boksburg on the East Rand.
Also implicated in Hani’s assassin was Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis who died at the age of 80 from lung cancer at Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria after he was released on medical parole from Kgosi Mampuru II.
On 21 November, the Constitution Court ordered through Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that Lamola place Walus on parole in ten days but his release was delayed last week after an alleged stabbing incident in prison.
It is alleged that Walus was stabbed on Tuesday 29 November by a former MK inmate and he was taken to hospital and treated for the wound.
Walus’s parole has caused an uproar in South Africa especially because it emerged during his trial that he assassinated Hani to stop the negotiation process at the time and plunge the country into chaos and bloodshed.
Previous administrations have turned down Walus’ appeal for parole but this time, the Concourt found that Lamola ‘s decision to refuse the 69-year-old Polish immigrant parole in 2020 was irrational and set it aside.
Lamola’s office issued a statement saying that Hani’s killer would now serve two years under community corrections in South Africa and won’t be deported to Poland and that he had been furnished with his parole conditions, a violation of which will see him returned to prison.