JANUSZ WALUS, the man who pulled the trigger to kill SACP leader Chris Hani, is not happy at all that his “old friend” Clive Derby-Lewis put the sole blame for the killing on his shoulders.
Walus’s lawyer, Julian Knight, visited him in the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria yesterday.
He said his client had expressed his disappointment at the statements Derby-Lewis made two months before he died.
In the one and only interview he gave since his incarceration 23 years ago, Derby-Lewis basically told a film company that Walus went on a mission of his own when he killed Hani on April 10, 1993 in front of his home in Dawn Park, Boksburg.
Walus’s message from jail was: “I have taken note of the allegations made by my co- accused in his recent interview, which I have read about in the media. I wish to distance myself completely from the views expressed by him in the interview.
"I unreservedly apologised for and deeply regret my actions. I followed the instructions of Mr Derby-Lewis, which I should never have done.”
In the interview, Derby-Lewis said he never asked Walus to kill Hani, but that he volunteered to do it. But Walus said this was utter nonsense, as Derby-Lewis gave him the gun and the address of Hani.
Derby-Lewis, in explaining the lead-up to the killing, said during the interview: “I accepted his (Walus’s) offer (to kill). I said ‘okay, if you want to do it, but keep me out’.”
No dates or places were planned, but Derby-Lewis said he instructed that it should not be done over the Easter weekend.
The assassination was also to be abandoned if anyone else apart from Hani was around, such as his bodyguards. Derby-Lewis made it clear he wanted no other casualties.
He gave Walus an unlicensed firearm and the plan was to give him bullets as well.
Walus is embroiled in legal proceedings to be freed on parole. The high court this year turned down his bid, but he is now heading to the Supreme Court of Appeal.