Johannesburg - The house of slain struggle stalwart Chris Hani, where he was gunned down in his driveway more than two decades ago, will be turned into a museum to depict the life of the anti-apartheid hero.
Ekurhuleni metro has purchased the property in Dawn Park, Boksburg and mayor Mzwandile Masina will officially receive the keys to the house on Thursday.
Ekurhuleni spokesman Zweli Dlamini the property had been in the hands of private owners after Hani’s death.
“Chris Hani is a free person of the City and each year in April we commemorate his life and legacy. It has always been our wish to purchase the property so that we can ensure that people are afforded a greater opportunity of getting to know him better,” said Dlamini.
“We have already built a monument and a liberation trail for Chris Hani at the Thomas Nkobi Cemetery, and now we are just adding another essential feature to the programme.”
Hani, who was leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress was assassinated on April 10, 1993 by Polish immigrant Januz Walus.
Walus has served more than 20 years of a life sentence for the murder, which led to spontaneous riots, almost derailing the country’s transition to democracy in 1994.
Walus was recently granted parole after he approached the High Court, prompting protests from Hani’s widow Limpho Hani and the SACP.
Walus’s accomplice, former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, who together with Walus were sentenced to death within six months of the murder, died last week after a long battle with cancer. He had been on medical parole since last year.
Walus and Derby-Lewis’ death sentences were subsequently commuted to life imprisonment after the Constitutional Court banned the death penalty.
African News Agency