‘This country is finished’ – Limpho Hani outraged by Walus decision

The apex court set aside the justice and correctional service minister’s 2020 decision to deny the Janusz Walus parole. The Polish immigrant is serving a life sentence for Hani’s assassination in 1993.

Walus has served 28 years at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility and has made several failed attempts since 2011 to be released on parole.

In March 2020 Justice Minister Ronald Lamola denied the 69-year-old parole based mainly on the gravitas of the crime and the remarks of the trial court which sentenced and convicted him.

Speaking to media moments after Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed down judgment, Hani said the court failed to consider the trauma her family has endured.

‘Zondo never referred to my family, to myself, to my children and the trauma and the suffering. He couldn’t give a s**t. He couldn’t be bothered,” Hani said.

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She added that Monday’s ruling vindicates Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu over her comments that the judiciary is captured. Hani said had her husband not been killed, the country would not be what it is today.

“If my husband was not killed, we would never have had elections. Mandela, after my husband was murdered said to [FW] de Klerk, for us to stop this give us an election date. That’s why Zondo and his friends today are sitting in this court otherwise we’d still be under apartheid.”

Hani’s sentiments were echoed by the SACP’s Solly Mapaila, who was also in court.

In a statement on Monday, the party described the ruling as “sickeningly disappointing”.

“The judgment has far-reaching implications that compel the SACP to analyse it deeper and look for a new way forward under the circumstances. The reality we now face is that the court failed to protect our right to exist as communists. We will have to protect this right ourselves,”