Johannesburg - The Young Communist League of SA (YCLSA) has called on President Jacob Zuma to reopen the inquest into the death of slain SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani.
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hani's assassination on Wednesday, the YCLSA also said Hani's killers should not be granted parole.
Hani, who was also chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was assassinated outside his house in Boksburg on April 10, 1993, by Polish right-winger Janusz Walus with a gun arranged by right-winger Clive Derby-Lewis.
They were both sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life in prison when the death penalty was abolished.
“Parole should not be considered until (Derby-Lewis) tells the nation who he collaborated with in the assassination of Hani,” YCLSA spokesman Khaya Xaba said in a statement.
It was reported this week that the 77-year-old Derby-Lewis, who has been diagnosed with hypertension and cancer, has been denied medical parole. He was also denied medical parole in 2011.
“It is with great heaviness that we feel the passing of our leader and this does not grow easier as time elapses,” the YCLSA said.
It said it would do a “frank assessment” of some of the most pressing South African issues for which Hani had fought.
“We, as the progressive youth movement of the left have the task of imparting (Hani's) spirit and legacy to the 'born frees',” said Xaba.
“This needs to translate into the urgent practical reality of shaping a generation committed to education, liberation from racial and economic discrimination and able to reject rampant materialism.”
The “born frees” refer to those South Africans born since the demise of apartheid. - Sapa