THE conspiracy that former president Thabo Mbeki was involved in the cold-blooded killing of former SACP leader Chris Hani was a blatant lie.
This revelation is contained in part three of the documentary: The Derby-Lewis Disclosure, by the man who was jailed for 22 years for the murder of Hani and subsequently released on parole last year.
The documentary, the fourth and last part of which will be released today, is the one and only interview since his release from jail.
Derby-Lewis succumbed to cancer earlier this month.
He told the interviewer that he was once interviewed about Mbeki’s alleged involvement in the plot to murder Hani by the then minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete, as well as his Justice counterpart at the time Penuell Maduna.
They confronted him in prison and asked him whether Mbeki had anything to do with the murder.
“I said I don’t know Thabo Mbeki from a bar of soap. I have seen the photographs of him from the newspaper. I will never talk to Thabo Mbeki because he is an ANC and the ANC are my enemies.”
He said he was never going to lie that Mbeki had anything to do with the murder because he loved the truth.
“My whole political career was crowned by the fact and I was never going to use a lie on the pretext that Mbeki was involved; I wasn’t gonna use a lie to get myself out that Mbeki was involved.”
Derby-Lewis also rejected claims that he had failed to reach out to Hani’s widow Limpho and the SACP for forgiveness. “That’s a lot of rubbish. Every time I attended a parole board hearing I expressed my desire to meet with her (Limpho). She refused point-blank. The penultimate time I asked to meet with her was during the board hearing at which she was present.
“I said to the chairman of the board that Mrs Hani is now here. Can’t we now organise an opportunity, so that we can express our regrets to her? She refused to see us. She said we need to make an appointment with the lawyer.”
He said that while in hospital, he asked his attorney to organise with the SACP to have Mrs Hani go and see him, but she refused.
He accused the SACP of being blatant liars. “I mean, the whole thing of conspiracy they keep on clinging on to is absolutely a lie.”
When in the C-Max Prison (now Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre), Derby-Lewis said he was probably locked up with 300 dangerous criminals, but was never hurt.
Despite that, he was warned when he first landed jail that he must not be involved with anything because his life was in danger.
He, however, got involved with his fellow inmates, who demanded him to teach them because they were studying for their matric.
“Their motivation was that I was the only white person they know who knows anything about black men. I had 22 people in my class. I had ANC guys.” At the end of the year, all the 22 passed and one received a distinction.
“I must confess that I have never taught in my life; I am not a teacher.”
Derby-Lewis said that after 21 years in jail he was suddenly attacked twice by people he knew very well. “I helped them with tobacco, cigarettes and food.”
On two occasions, he survived the attacks, but he said there was no doubt in his mind that they were politically motivated.
The trigger-man, Polish immigrant Janusz Waluś, is sill fighting with authorities to be released on parole.
SACP national spokesperson Alex Mashilo meanwhile said Derby-Lewis was talking rubbish from his grave. “If we blamed Thabo Mbeki for Hani’s murder, we would have told him that we blamed him.”
He said they wanted an official inquest into the circumstances that led to the murder.