Publications
- Janusz Walus gunned down SACP leader Chris Hani nearly three decades ago.
- He has now approached the Constitutional Court to review Justice Minister Ronald Lamola's March 2020 decision not to approve his release on parole.
- Multiple ministers refused to release him on parole.
The lawyer representing Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola says there is no merit in the argument his client is under political pressure in considering the parole of the man who killed SACP leader Chris Hani.
Janusz Walus gunned down Hani nearly three decades ago. He has been applying for parole since 2011 - and has been denied every time.
He approached the Constitutional Court to review Lamola's decision on 16 March 2020 not to approve his release on parole.
On Monday, Walus' advocate, Roelof du Plessis, argued in the apex court ministers were political appointees placed in their positions by the ANC, who is an alliance partner of the SACP, and "it simply makes it difficult for any minister to make this decision".
But Lamola's advocate, MTK Moerane SC, said there was no merit in that submission.
"The minister stated under oath that he did not consult his political comrades and that he took the decision in his capacity as the minister of justice and correctional services.
"We submit that that particular view point is incorrect, and their submission is therefore without merit. The fact that he is a politician is neither here nor there," he added.
Walus assassinated Hani on 10 April 1993.
He was initially sentenced to death for the murder but later had that sentence commuted to life behind bars.
READ | Last chance at freedom for Janusz Walus? ConCourt agrees to hear Hani killer’s parole appeal
Walus first became eligible for parole in 2005 after serving 13 years and four months of his life sentence.
Justice Leona Theron asked why Lamola, in his reasons, did not mention the length that Walus had spent in prison and what the court should make of that.
Responding, Moerane said Lamola was aware of the length Walus had spent in prison and it was not "necessary" for him to mention it.
Theron also questioned why Lamola had not listed he took the period of incarceration Walus had served as a positive factor in his favour.
Moerane said that factor was "so obvious", and Lamola did not have to mention it.
He also faced questions from Justice David Unterhalter, who asked if the advocate "accepted" the proposition that a person serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole would suffer unconstitutional punishment.
"We accept that," Moerane said.
Unterhalter then added: "That would seem then logically to imply, that at a point, even the most heinous crime, the retribution factor has been served … the question is, when is that point reached in the case of the applicant? Isn't he entitled to know when that point is reached?"
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But Moerane simply said Walus "will know when he is released on parole".
Unterhalter asked if this argument was not irrational.
"Isn't that in itself cruel and unusual punishment, to leave somebody in a situation that they never know, from one application to the next whether retribution has now been served is actually a form of cruel and unusual punishment because your argument is: you will know when you know and isn't that irrational?"
But Moerane disagreed, saying the decision-maker considered relevant facts and circumstances at the time.
Meanwhile, advocate Muzi Sikhakhane - who is representing the SACP and Hani's wife, Limpho - argued the nature of the crime committed by Walus was not "merely a murder of an individual".
"It was a murder of a democratic dream," he said.
Sikhakhane added the minister was correct on rationality, saying the apex court was not in a better position to substitute the decision.
"Mr Walus is not entitled to parole. No one is entitled to parole. People are entitled to be considered for parole."
He said the minister's decision complied with the legal requirements.
Judgment has been reserved.
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