Pretoria - The SACP in Gauteng will take to the streets of Tshwane on June 16 when it will demand that an inquest be held into the death of its former general secretary, Chris Hani.
The party said it would be marching to the Department of Correctional Services to hand over a memorandum regarding the inquest.
The SACP said it was continuing driving its campaign for an inquest into the assassination of the struggle icon 30 years ago.
“This push is with the hope that a detailed inquest will uncover several unanswered questions, including the role of many people who were left off the hook in the assassination, including the masterminds behind it,” the party said.
Polish immigrant Janusz Walus was convicted of the killing and released on parole in November last year. His co-accused, Clive Derby-Lewis, who has meanwhile died, was set free in 2016.
“As the SACP, we remain convinced that they both failed to completely divulge the whole truth behind the murder of comrade Chris Hani,” the party said.
Hani’s widow, Limpho Hani, and the SACP have maintained that both Walus and Derby-Lewis never divulged the truth as to who was actually behind Hani’s death.
He was shot dead outside his Boksburg home on April 10, 1993.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola had denied parole for Walus on numerous occasions. When he was released last year, Lamola commented that “there is no question that Walus is a polarising figure in our budding constitutional democracy, and that his release has understandably reopened wounds among some in society, especially the family of the late struggle icon Chris Hani.”
Lamola added that Walus’s actions had sought to derail the democratic project at its most critical formative stage, when the choice of either setting the country on a sustainable path of peace, democracy and reconciliation on the one hand, or chaos, civil strife and blood-letting on the other, was constantly one bad decision away.
Walus was denied his wishes to return to Poland after his release on parole. His present whereabouts have been kept secret.
The SACP march next Friday for an inquest will be followed by a picket outside the Department of Water and Sanitation in solidarity with the residents of Hammanskraal who have been subjected to drinking contaminated water.
A cholera outbreak gripped Hammanskraal a few weeks ago, claiming 23 lives, and authorities have yet to pinpoint the source of the bacteria.
Dozens of water samples were taken by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, but it was well-documented that Hammanskraal has been troubled by water problems for many years, the party said.
“The SACP believes that this crisis could have been avoided.
“Warnings of water quality and pollution from the Rooiwal water treatment plant have been ignored. The metro has failed to manage and maintain existing wastewater treatment works over a prolonged period of time. Giving people contaminated water is a gross violation of human rights and we call for a full independent investigation into this crisis,” the SACP said.
It added that the investigation would help to get closer to the truth so that those entrusted with the responsibility of preventing such crises were held accountable.
This was also critical in ensuring that families who had lost their loved ones found closure, it said.
Pretoria News