Johannesburg - In a joint statement, the Tripartite Alliance – the ANC, the SACP, and the trade union federation Cosatu — has responded to the Constitutional Court’s grant of parole to Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Waluś, by announcing a programme of action that will include various protests.
Beginning this Saturday, the alliance partners will be picketing outside the Constitutional Court. This event will include an announcement of the details of the legal strategy and other activities to be pursued on Saturday and thereafter.
The alliance’s secretariat said it expressed its sincere gratitude to the peace-loving people of the world who had started sending their messages of support to the alliance and sympathy for the Chris Hani family following the judgment on Monday.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus slammed the judgment, saying it was a betrayal of the country's hard-won democracy, which Hani had died fighting for.
"As the MKMVA, we have no doubt whatsoever that Comrade Chris Hani was not only assassinated by two individual right-wingers — Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Waluś — acting in isolation. No! It was indeed much bigger and (more) intricate, (being a) carefully worked out assassination plot. We know in our hearts of hearts that the very senior leaders within the national democratic revolution were intimately involved in the formulation of an execution of that evil plan," Niehaus said.
The disbanded military wing of the ANC said Hani had been killed for his strong condemnation of the negotiated settlement during the Codesa talks, which he refused to endorse, as he saw them as a complete betrayal of the country's highest ideals.
"Comrade Chris Hani spoke out against the sellout arrangements that were negotiated at Codesa. He felt compelled to speak and warn our people of the great criminal betrayal that was being perpetrated against them. It was exactly because of his principled refusal to remain quiet and not become complicit that made him to be killed," Niehaus added.
In the past, Niehaus has made similar allegations, saying that, even though he does not have conclusive proof of these allegations, he suspects counter-revolutionary forces within the ruling party of colluding with the enemy to kill Hani and destabilise the ruling party.
Just this past week, former president Jacob Zuma accused Ramaphosa of working with the CIA and being a spy.
Niehaus, a former ANC spokesperson, said Monday's ruling to grant Waluś parole was the second killing of Chris Hani, and had brought sharp pain to his widow and family, who are still suffering as a result of Hani’s murder.
"What Chief Justice Zondo did yesterday, to try and justify the ultimate betrayal of Comrade Chris Hani… is truly inconsiderate and evil," he said.
The Star