Pretoria - Cheers of excitement, ululation and clapping echoed in a courtroom at the High Court in Pretoria after Janusz Walus’s application to be released on parole pending the outcome of all appeal proceedings instituted by Justice Minister Michael Masutha was dismissed on Tuesday.
“I make the following order: the application is dismissed with costs,” Acting Judge Tanya Brenner read out the judgment of Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen, who was not in court.
Last week, Janse van Nieuwenhuizen who presided over the application for immediate release by Walus, the man who murdered SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, deferred her judgment, saying she needed time to apply her mind.
She indicated that her judgment would be handed down by another judge in the high court.
As Brenner walked out of court on Tuesday, members of the South African Communist Party led by deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila and Hani’s widow, Limpho, celebrated their “court victory”, dancing and chanting.
“His application has been dismissed with costs which means this guy is going to remain in jail. We don’t think he stands a chance in the appeal court. That bench is very strong and there is a huge legal platform. We are positive he won’t make it,” Mapaila told African News Agency (ANA) after the judgment.
Walus wanted to be released immediately on parole, pending the outcome of a petition lodged by Masutha to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Advocate Roelof du Plessis, for Walus, told the court last week that his client was suffering “irreparable harm” through his continued incarceration.
“If it eventually turns out a year later that you were right and that the applicant (Walus) was supposed to be released on parole, are they going to give him back a year of his life? How are they going to add a year to his life?” asked Du Plessis.
He said no amount of money can compensate for that “irreparable harm”.
“The only reason why the Minister (Michael Masutha) is bringing this application is because of bias and political pressure. It is our submission that political pressure has made him to oppose everything in this case,” said Du Plessis.
“That should not infringe the rights of the applicant. They are taking away his right to serve his sentence on parole. That’s the jest of this case. Parole is a continuation of sentence therefore no prejudice will follow should the applicant continue with his sentence on parole.”
The court bid for freedom was launched after Janse van Nieuwenhuizen, earlier this month, dismissed Masutha’s application for leave to appeal her earlier judgment, which ordered the release of Walus with 14 days.
Hani was shot and killed by Walus on Easter Sunday, 10 April, 1993.
Walus was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in October 1993, but this was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Walus’s application to be released on parole was initially turned down by Masutha, after which the convicted murderer sought the intervention of the high court to make a ruling for him to be released on parole.
His erstwhile co-accused Clive Derby-Lewis, who was also given a life sentence, was released on medical parole last year.
On 10 March, the high court ordered that Walus be released on parole within a fortnight, prompting Masutha to apply for leave to appeal.
African News Agency