Janusz Waluś arrives in his home country Poland. Picture: X/@MDNnewss
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has expressed disappointment over the handling of convicted killer Janusz Waluś’ deportation saying he was protected by “our system.”
Waluś, the Polish national who assassinated anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani in 1993, was deported from South Africa on Friday after serving nearly three decades behind bars.
Waluś arrived in his home country, Poland on Saturday morning. His return to his homeland, which he left 43 years ago when he emigrated to South Africa, went largely unnoticed.
SACP Secretary General Solly Mapaila told eNCA, Waluś has shown no remorse.
“I attended the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) hearings supporting the party leadership and that’s where I came face to face with him. The family throughout, Limpho has been attending the court hearings as well as the parole hearings.
“In the parole hearings, he was just a stoned-faced the guy who was not interested. He was just there to just process the legal issue that he had come through the parole board. He was not remorseful, he was not willing,” Mapaila said.
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Mapaila claims that the SACP and the Hani family did not even receive a request for a victim offender dialogue, which is a requirement process in the parole applications.
“Later, Limpho went to Cuba and his (Waluś) legal team sent a letter to our legal team to indicate that they want to engage with the family, and we told them that Limpho is not around, she’s in Cuba.
“Immediately, we only found that they were writing this letter so they can insert it in the documents in the victim offender dialogue. So mischievous compliance of regulations, that’s what they were trying to do,” Mapaila said.
Mapaila claims Waluś received “support.”
“Throughout there’s been arrogance, condescending racism displayed Janusz Waluś and the right-wing forces that supported him.
“One of them at one point, I mean, we nearly fought at a studio because THEY wanted to attack us, and even those that supported crowdfunding for his legal processes. So, Waluś, right up to the end, has been a racist, hardcore racist, and was protected by our system,” Mapaila said.
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The SACP and the Hani family have called for an inquest into the 1993 assassination of Hani, saying while the government engaged Limpho on the Waluś’ release, the deportation just “rubs salt into the famiy’s wounds.”
Waluś, was serving a life sentence for killing Hani outside his home in Boksburg on 10 April 1993, with the support of Clive Derby-Lewis.
Derby-Lewis, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Hani died in 2016 at the age of 80.
Waluś parole period came to an end on 6 December and the South African government confirmed that he was handed over to the Department of Home Affairs for deportation.
In November 2022, the Constitutional Court found then-justice minister Ronald Lamola’s decision to refuse Walus parole in 2020 had been irrational and set it aside, paving the way for his release from prison the following month, after 28 years behind bars.
ALSO READ: ANCYL want Janusz Waluś handed to the people to ‘determine his fate’
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