Dear Editor,
"You will not go out of prison, Clive Derby-Lewis... you can go to hell. You are not going to go out until you do your time, it's simple as that."
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour didn't mince his words in replying to the parole application of Chris Hani's killer Derby-Lewis. Was the minister correct in denying Hani's killers the parole? What is the country's official policy on these matters?
This raises the question about the plight of apartheid killers and other hit squad members such as Alfred Nofemela - do they deserve to be paroled? Or should they literally rot in prison? Derby-Lewis is 72 years old and has been imprison for more than 15 years. According to his lawyer Marius Coertze, he is eligible for parole. I hold the view that while his parole is legally acceptable, it is also morally wrong.
An exception would be someone like Eugene de Kock who has fully co-operated with the TRC and has made the total disclosure of his involvement with the apartheid hit squads. Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus have not been honest right from the start. They have not been remorseful of their deed.
It is quiet clear their aim was not simply to kill Hani, but to plunge this country into darkness. Their devilish act was like a match intended to unleash anarchy and human destruction. It took the personal intervention of former president Nelson Mandela to calm the stormy waters.
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting the evils of the past. It's true our justice system is not driven by revenge, but reconciliation. We should also not forget the pain of the Hani family, who were robbed of their father in his prime. The wounds are still raw!
Granting parole would send the message that his death does not matter and would be an insult to the majority of the people in this country. Forgiveness is not an excuse for blindness to the dangers posed by right wing elements represented by Derby-Lewis. Their ideas of hatred have given rise to right wing groups like the Boeremag.
Hopefully this episode will force the Correctional Service Ministry to draw up special parole guidelines to deal with apartheid killers.
Lucas Ntyintyane,
Johannesburg
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