South African struggle for liberation hero Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Waluś, who was to be released on parole on Thursday, will now spend another night in prison.
His legal team and the state attorney confirmed on Thursday afternoon that his release on parole will only be finalised after he has received necessary medical clearance.
Waluś was stabbed by another inmate on Tuesday, a few days before his planned release.
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed on Monday this week that Waluś will serve his parole in the country, and not in Poland, his country of birth.
“The minister [of Home Affairs] notes media speculation that Mr Waluś would serve his parole period in the Republic of Poland. In light of the exemption issued by the minister, this speculation cannot be correct and the Department of Home Affairs would not be involved in any deportation process of Mr Waluś to the Republic of Poland,” Home Affairs said in a statement.
His parole has been met with harsh criticism by the tripartite alliance comprising the ANC, SACP, and trade union federation Cosatu, who gathered at the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg this week to picket against the ruling by the apex court.
Hani’s family are also unhappy with the ruling.
Waluś’ accomplice Clive Derby-Lewis, who died in 2016 due to terminal lung cancer, was also repeatedly denied parole after he began applying in 2010, after objections from the family of Hani.
Waluś gunned down Hani at his home in Dawn Park near Boksburg, on the east of Johannesburg in April 1993 in what the rightwingers thought would derail plans for the country’s first democratic election in 1994.
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