Statement on the so-called Derby-Lewis disclosure 

16 November 2016

The South African Communist Party has noted the so-called Derby-Lewis disclosure by the cold-blooded murderer Clive Derby-Lewis in an interview with Forum Films held two months before his death on 3 November.This will not hold the SACP up in its efforts to continue fighting for all the truth and circumstances surrounding the cold-blooded murder of our General Secretary Chris Hani to come out.

In contradiction, the Party will strengthen its determination. The SACP will also continue to oppose Walus’s parole and will, at the next plenary session of its Central Committee taking place from 2 to 4 December proceed with the approval of a resolution for an official inquest into Hani’s assassination. The Central Committee will announce on 4 December the avenues the Party will follow in pursuit of the inquest.    

Some sections of society through the media would like the SACP and the people as a whole to believe that the contents of the interview by Derby-Lewis constitute full disclosure of the circumstances surrounding Hani’s assassination, planned and carried out by Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus as convicted.

In the interview videos so far publicly released, Derby-Lewis did nothing more than regurgitate what he already said in his trial and applications both for the amnesty he was denied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and for parole. He also displayed the fact that he was unrehabilitated and unremorseful.  He still tried to justify why he believed apartheid was appropriate. All of these are unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. 

The interview was conducted in violation of his parole conditions. The Department of Justice and Correctional Services needs to look at the matter holistically.

Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson, SACP, 17 November 2016