JOHANNESBURG – SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus, is to be released on parole.
In 2020, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola refused his application for parole.
He subsequently took Lamola’s decision on review but was unsuccessful both in the Pretoria High Court and on appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Walus then approached the apex court, which handed down its decision on Monday, finding in favour of Walus.
It has ordered the minister to place him on parole.
In refusing Walus parole in 2020, Lamola referred to the remarks made by the trial court which convicted and sentenced him and by the Supreme Court of Appeal that heard his appeal against his conviction and sentence.
These remarks focused on the gravity of his crime.
He also referred to the nature and seriousness of his crime.
In challenging Lamola’s decision, though, Walus argued there was nothing he could do about any of these factors.
And in the Constitutional Court’s unanimous judgment, which was penned by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, it agreed, finding that the minister’s decision was irrational and ordered the minister to place Walus on parole.
