Red Alert: Clive Derby-Lewis and Januzs Walus: Convicted, unrepentant and un-rehabilitated murderers

On Monday 9 June the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Honourable Tshililo Michael Masutha announced at a press conference replying to a question, that there is a positive recommendation for the release of Clive Derby-Lewis on parole based on medical grounds, however, that the memorandum and submissions made by the South African Communist Party (SACP) and comrade Chris Hani's family as a part of the affected parties will first be considered before a final decision is made.

From this it followed clearly that the recommendation did not take into account the memorandum and submissions made by the SACP and Hani's family. Derby-Lewis, together with a Polish immigrant Janusz Walus, were found guilty for the murder committed on 10 April 1993 of Hani, at the time SACP General Secretary, member of the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) and former leader in various capacities of the liberation army uMkhonto we Sizwe, a husband and father.

Derby-Lewis and Walus were subsequently sentenced to death, which was commuted to life imprisonment after we outlawed capital punishment in 1995. There was a hit list of senior SACP and ANC leaders developed, associated with the murder of Hani by Derby-Lewis and Walus.

The handwritten list, which included the names of President Nelson Mandela and former SACP General Secretary and by then National Chairperson Joe Slovo, was neither in Derby-Lewis's nor Walus's handwritings. Till this day, 21 years after murdering Hani, his convicted murderers refuse to make full disclosure not only on the list but also on who else was involved as well as all other related circumstances.

Amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was denied to the murderers because they did not fulfil the requirements and criteria to be given amnesty. Unrepentant, Derby-Lewis actually claimed that his Cristian faith within the Afrikaanse Prostentant Church was central to his decision to participate in Hani's assassination while stating that this was sanctioned by senior leaders of the Conservative Party, by the way who were never, up to this day, disclosed. Hani's murderers took to the Cape High Court to overturn the TRC's decision to deny them amnesty. They failed. The court dismissed their application in 2000.

There can be no doubt, 21 years after they killed Hani, that his murderers are not only unrepentant, but failed rehabilitation in prison. By the way, contrary to some media reports, Derby-Lewis and Walus were not sentenced to 25 years but life imprisonment. There is a difference between the two. Accordingly, it cannot be seen to be obvious that after serving a minimum of 25 years in a life sentence for murder, and becoming eligible to be considered for parole, a convicted murderer automatically must be released.

Derby-Lewis's attempts to be released, by the way, were first launched with the application to the TRC for the denied amnesty, followed by the failed Cape High Court bid to overturn the TRC's decision, and then by applications for a privilege, that is NOT a right, to be released on parole, first based on age and then on medical grounds. These cannot be viewed in isolation. They are continuous elements of a one-whole effort by unrepentant murderers never to serve their sentence or finish serving it.

The matter for the assassination of Hani is not closed, that is until justice is realised, not matter how an individual or a grouping feels emotionally at a particular point in time. The SACP, standing firm on this ground, has made it clear that its unchanged stance on this principle is located within the confines of the law, associated regulations and processes.

As a Party of political struggle, which is at the same time, and most fundamentally, class struggle, the Party has correctly said this remains one of its strategic spheres of engagement for the path to justice should justice, which is not a one-way street, be ignored or denied particularly to the victims of Hani's murder. The moral superiority of the victims over that of his convicted murderers cannot be questioned, and the two cannot be likened.

It is just wrong, and in the extreme, to continue forcing victims to forgive and forget, while the murderers are uncritically treated as if they are holly. The basis for forgiveness and reconciliation, even for the TRC, was, in addition to other principles, and most importantly, a full disclosure of the truth.

The assassination of Hani remains a sensitive matter in many ways. Handling a murder case which was calculated at plunging the country into a civil war, and which actually brought us to the brink of that war, without paying attention to the need for the full disclosure of the truth as well as for closure of the matter on the part of victims is inconceivable for justice but for peace as well, and should not be opted as the way to go.

South Africa needs to engage about the racist groupings that seek to conserve the legacy of apartheid and therefore in the context apartheid conservatives. Some of these are lauding Derby-Lewis as a hero, as seen in their recent march which took place in Tshwane. They are using this as one of the basis for supporting his parole application. In our next instalment on the matter we will focus on this and what it represents to South Africa.

Why must convicted, unrepentant and un-rehabilitated murderers be released from prison? There can surely be no justification!

Together, let us build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society! Let us build a just and peaceful world!

Alex Mashilo is SACP Spokesperson, writing in personal capacity. This article first appeared in the SACP's online journal, Umsebenzi Online.

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