Chris Hani’s widow has dubbed “Cleopatra Hani” an imposter for claiming to be the struggle stalwart’s child, but the woman says the country is in danger and there is no time to bicker about longstanding identity issues.
Cleopatra Tunyiswa, also known as Cleopatra Hani, told Sunday World on Tuesday that she was tired of the squabble between her and Limpho Hani.
If Limpho does not want to accept her as part of her family, she is content, she said.
But what keeps her awake at night, added Tunyiswa, is that her family lives in dilapidated conditions.
Fighting for identity
“I don’t know how many years have passed since my father died. I’m tired of fighting for my identity, which nobody can ever change,” she said.
“Nobody can change my identity. What is important to me is my country, which is going down. That is all my concern.
“All I stand for is for my siblings not to suffer. The houses are falling on top of us in our rural home, and all this woman [Limpho] worries about are women who slept with her man [Chris Hani].”
Tunyiswa said she is not interested in those issues.
“I’m tired of fighting another woman. I’m so tired. And my worry is that she is ageing. She needs to face reality and the truth.”
She said she fought for South Africa’s liberation at the age of 13. “I’m sick and tired of her and her lawyers just because she has the money to pay.”
War chest for lawyers
She said Limpho has the money to pay lawyers but does not care a bit about the wellbeing of her family.
“She has not been to the villages since the passing of my grandparents. She is the wife of the Hani family, but she could not even think of bringing home the spirit of my father, which is loitering in the air in Boksburg [where Hani was buried in 1993].”
Tunyiswa said she is worried that Limpho is misleading her own child, who had not been to the Hanis to perform family rituals.
“Imagine a person misleading their own child. I do not care for her disowning me. There are people who love me out there.
“This filthy and selfish woman has allowed the house structures at Hani’s village home to collapse while she is living it up nicely in the suburbs.
“And then she has the gall to call herself Hani’s wife.”
Intimidated by lawyers
She claimed that Limpho is not in communication with all the Hanis, “except that power-hungry one called Mphatheli who wanted to be a principal.
“He [Mphatheli] got it, and now he wants to be the head of the department using my name. I do not care about these two. For decades, they have intimidated me by using lawyers.
“Well, I have news for them: when my father [Chris Hani] had sex with my mother to have me, there was no lawyer.”
Tunyiswa continued: “I have had enough of Limpho and her nonsense. She has gone too far now, and I’m very close to shredding her into pieces and telling her where to get off.”
However, she said, out of respect, she was her elder.
“I have tried to bottle my anger in, but she is a cruel old woman, especially against the Hani family.”
