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Janusz Jakub Waluś (born January 14, 1953) is a far-right anti-communist and convicted murderer of Polish origin. He is currently serving a life sentence in Pretoria, South Africa, for the 1993 murder of Chris Hani, general secretary of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Biography edit
Janusz Waluś was born in Zakopane, Poland, when the communist regime still ruled the country. Waluś immigrated to South Africa in 1981 to work in a glass factory that his father and brother had established in the country, but after the factory went bankrupt, Waluś became a truck driver.
It is in these conditions that Waluś joins the National Party and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, radicalizing and turning into a far-right anti-communist and defender of Apartheid.
Assassination of Chris Hani edit
Chris Hani was the general secretary of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of the Umkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. By the 1990s, South Africa was experiencing a transition from the racist Apartheid regime to a multiracial democracy. Chris Hani, very popular with the masses, represented a danger to the interests of the National Party.
On Saturday April 10, 1993, around 10:20 am, Waluś drove his car to Hani's house in Dawn Park. Hani had just arrived at her house, and when he got out of the car, Waluś yelled at him, and when Hani turned around, Waluś shot him in the body and then shot him three times in the head. Waluś quickly escaped from the scene in his car, but was soon caught by the police.
Shortly after, the police started an investigation that led to the arrest of Clive Derby-Lewis, who had conspired with Waluś to assassinate Hani and was the one who gave Waluś the firearm to assassinate Hani. It was also discovered that Waluś and Clive had planned to assassinate other anti-apartheid politicians such as Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo.
Imprisonment edit
Janusz Waluś and Clive Derby-Lewis were sentenced to death for Hani's murder, but because the death penalty was abolished shortly after, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Clive was released in 2015 after spending 22 years in prison, and would die on November 3, 2016. On the other hand, Waluś, despite repeatedly asking for parole and being supported by far-right groups in Poland, his requests have been denied and is currently serving his life sentence in a maximum security jail in Pretoria.