Chris Hani’s widow takes on Lindiwe Sisulu over her husband’s legacy

Limpho Hani, the widow of slain struggle hero Chris Hani, has reportedly accused ANC presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu of lying about her husband’s expulsion from the governing party in the late 1960’s.

According to a City Press report, Hani wants a written apology from the human settlements minister, failing which she would consider taking legal action against her. However, Sisulu has denied that her statement in the paper was false.

Hani believes Sisulu’s statement was “untruthful and false” and wants an apology, and a retraction in the City Press. The two women are also said to be corresponding with each another through their lawyers.

In an interview with the paper in July at OR Tambo International Airport, Sisulu reportedly said: “Chris Hani was expelled from the ANC and, after a while, after the party felt that he had sufficiently atoned for his misdemeanour, he was brought back”.

“People should not lie about the dead because they are not here to speak for themselves,” a “tearful” Hani told City Press this week. She said the SA Communist Party leader “never committed and/or was found guilty of any offence of misdemeanour by the ANC and/or any other forum”.

She also added that she had previously had to correct a similar misrepresentation of Hani’s legacy, made in a play performed at The Market theatre in Johannesburg.

Sisulu’s lawyers, Harris Nupen Molebatsi Attorneys, reportedly wrote to Hani stating: “To put our client’s statement into context, it is common historical knowledge that on or about 1969, Chris Hani and six other commissars and commanders of Umkhonto weSizwe, the ANC’s military wing, signed what became known as the Hani Memorandum.

“The document criticised the leadership of the ANC [and], as a result of the publication of this memorandum, Chris Hani was expelled from the ANC, but was later reinstated after the Morogoro Conference.”

The seminal ANC conference took place in Tanzania from April 25 to May 1 1969 to discuss the state of the organisation.

“Chris Hani was in fact expelled from the ANC as a result of the publication of the Hani Memorandum,” the lawyers added.

Sisulu’s lawyers are said to have undertaken to take Hani’s instructions on the request for an apology.

Hani’s lawyers, Morathi & Mataka Attorneys also wrote to City Press this week seeking to confirm the quote in the July story. The paper said it stood by the story.

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