Three women who have been masquerading as the daughters of the late struggle icon, Chris Hani, for years have been unmasked as fraudsters that are not even related to him.
A report from an investigation by the Department of Home Affairs instigated by Sunday World has revealed that Nosipho Hani Khumalo, Vanessa Phindile Madonsela and Cleopatra Tunyiswa are not Hani’s children.
Home affairs records also showed that Khumalo was born on January 9, 1998, nearly five years after the death of the secretary-general of the South African Communist Party (SACP). who was assassinated by rightwing Polish immigrant Janus Waluz on April 10, 1993at his Boksburg home.
Hani’s widow, Limpho, told talk radio 702 that Khumalo was not a family member or her late husband’s daughter, and the station was forced to remove its interview with her from its website and podcast in April 2020.
However, in January this year, the same station interviewed Khumalo again about her new book in which she claims she is a Hani.
According to home affairs records, Khumalo’s parents are Patrick and Nomsa Khumalo. Her father is originally from Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal, and her mother is from Alberton, on the East Rand.
Raphepheng Mataka, the Hani family lawyer, told Sunday World that Khumalo is a fraudster.
“Nosipho has been claiming that she is Hani’s daughter and made a lot of money fraudulently by using the Hani surname as bait. She has conned a senior ANC politician who honestly believed she was helping Chris’ daughter financially.
“Neither her mother nor her father have any link or relationship, with the Hani family, because sometimes she also claims she is Chris’ granddaughter,” Mataka said.
According to Mataka, the second woman, Phindile Madonsela, is a Mozambique national and is believed to have stolen a fake South African identity document from somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal.
In October 1997, more than four years after the struggle icon’s death, Madonsela applied to the Department of Home Affairs to change her surname from Madonsela to Hani. In the documents seen by Sunday World, she didn’t give any reason for changing her surname or names of her parents in the official documents.
Sunday World discovered that her application forms were otherwise blank, with no address provided.
Mataka told Sunday World that their investigation revealed that a foreign national from Somalia paid Madonsela R350 000 for a fictitious marriage and that the man received a South African identity document because of his marriage to a local woman.
“We gave all the information from our investigation to – former home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi in May this year, and unfortunately, he didn’t come back to that department after the elections.
“But he promised to launch a further investigation into the matter,” Mataka explained.
Mataka also added that Madonsela has a South African passport and uses it to frequent Mozambique.
“She has also been collecting money from people claiming to be Hani’s daughter,” Mataka added.
The third woman, Cleopatra Tunyiswa, has been claiming to be Hani’s daughter for years.
According to home affairs records, Tunyiswa was born on July 7, 1967, in East London, while Hani was in exile.
On January 6, 1994, nearly a year after Hani’s death, she applied for an identity document through late registration of birth, but she only included her mother’s name in her
application forms.
“Cleopatra is one person who has been claiming to be Hani’s daughter for the longest time. We tried several times to ask for a paternity test, but she didn’t even show up after agreeing to it,” Mataka said.
“The most unfortunate part is that she is being used as a weapon by some of Hani’s comrades, who know very well that she is fake.”
Tunyiswa told Sunday World in January that she was Hani’s daughter and that she was exhausted from fighting his widow.
The department said it has sent Limpho Hani a letter following an investigation into “individuals claiming to be daughters of your late husband”.
The investigation looked into Madonsela’s and Tunyiswa’s claims and concluded that “our records on the two individuals mentioned above do not show that they are related to Mr Chris Hani.
This is based on documentary evidence they submitted to the department, which does not indicate that Mr Chris Hani is their father”.
Home affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said they had not publicised the probe because they did not have permission from the Hani family to do so.
