EFF statement on the release of the killer of Chris Hani, Janusz Walus

7 December 2022

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is disturbed by the diabolical, cynical and harmful release of Janusz Walus, the murderer of the anti-Apartheid hero Chris Hani.

His release comes after the decision by the Constitutional Court to grant parole to Walus, a polish right-winger who took South Africa to the brink of civil war on the eve of democracy in 1993.

We condemn Walus’s release as it is abhorrent and shows scant regard to the nature of the crime that was committed by this murderous maniac. Janusz Walus not only killed a man, but his bullet also shattered the hopes of millions of our people and almost pushed this country into war.

His killing of Hani was an assassination of the very idea of freedom itself, and the killing of Hani was not merely murder, it was treasonous. For this, Walus has not even once shown remorse, he has not divulged the identities of the people he worked with, and he is likely to pursue his destructive right-wing ideas once released. His release marks the ultimate victory of right-wing fundamentalism over the needs and aspirations of the majority of our people.

It marks the hollowness of our constitutional democracy and its susceptibility to abuse by racists and white supremacists. This is enabled by judges who have no intellectual sophistication to appreciate the fragility of our history and our present. A rigid interpretation of the law without regard to the context within which the laws were made and are to be interpreted will soon push this country over the cliff, and into a pit of despair from which it would be difficult to emerge.

When the Constitutional Court sanctioned this release, it did not take the views of comrade Hani's family into account, nor did they take the views of the majority of the people of this country, to whom Hani was an important leader into account. They did not considered whether Walus is rehabilitated or not, nor did they consider his lack of remorse for the murder of comrade Hani.

Walus release is an important marker of a right-wing turn by the judiciary that should concern all of us. Over the past while, the courts, particularly the Constitutional Court, have been making some outrageous decisions that favour embedded interests of whites and their captured token blacks, while condemning the majority and their aspirations to continued malignment and exploitation.

There must be a thorough assessment of the vested interests that our courts seem to be protecting and advancing, and black people must carefully understand that a captured judiciary means for their aspirations for emancipation. We condemn this release; it is repugnant and shows that black pain and suffering is of no concern in this country. Whites have centred themselves in almost every key aspect of life post 1994, and our courts continue to affirm whites as the centre of life in this country.

Today a murderer, a counter-revolutionary and a man who undermined the socialist progress of South Africa walks the streets. Chris Hani called for the return of the land, free education, free housing, sanitation, and for an economy which will be in the hands of the people. He sacrificed his life in exile, risked the life of his children and his own for our freedom, and today his killer walks amongst us.

May our people see what they do with Janusz Walus, now that he is out of prison.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 7 December 2022