Johannesburg - The SACP wants an inquest into the death of its former leader Chris Hani following the death of one of his killers, Clive Derby-Lewis.
Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus – who pulled the trigger – were sentenced to life for the murder of Hani in April 1993, which almost plunged the country into a racial war.
On Sunday, SACP leader Blade Nzimande said Hani’s assassination continued to haunt the Hani family because Derby-Lewis and Walus had refused to divulge their motive for killing him.
“Derby-Lewis was a ruthless man; he died without making full disclosure of the truth around the circumstances that led to the murder of Comrade Hani,” Nzimande said.
“The SACP is often criticised that it is not willing to let go of the matter of the murder of Comrade Hani, even by some within our movement. We want to say this is not true…”
Nzimande said his party would continue to express its solidarity with Hani’s wife Limpho and her family.
“Every time something happens involving the now late Derby-Lewis and the other murderer, Janusz Walus, the Hani family are taken back to their painful past experience.
“Given this impasse in getting to the truth, and the whole truth, our next central committee meeting in early December will have to reinstate our call for an official inquest into the whole truth and circumstances around the assassination of Comrade Hani.”
Nzimande added: “One of the outstanding issues in this matter is that the wife of Derby-Lewis was found, immediately after the assassination of Comrade Hani, in possession of a list of names and residential addresses of many of our ANC and SACP leaders, including that of Comrade Nelson Mandela.
“This was never adequately followed up or investigated by the apartheid police. Clearly there was a wider conspiracy. No wonder Gaye Derby-Lewis is today still a praise-singer of her late husband who killed Comrade Hani.
“She is also saying her husband told her a secret she will keep until she goes to her grave. She definitely has an explanation to make,” Nzimande said.
He also took a swipe at the police who investigated the murder, saying they had failed to find the person who stole the murder weapon from an army base. “The police did not dig deep enough,” Nzimande said.
Derby-Lewis died of cancer on Thursday. He was released on medical parole last year after a long battle with the Department of Justice and Correctional Services.