Death of Hani's daughter remains a mystery

Published Mar 11, 2001

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No foul play was suspected in the death of slain SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani's daughter, who mysteriously died in Johannesburg on Saturday, police said on Sunday.

Sergeant Amanda Roestoff said no suicide note or drugs were found at the townhouse in Craighaven, north of Johannesburg, where Nomakhwezi Lerato Hani, 23, died on Saturday morning.

She said a post mortem to establish the cause of death was expected to be conducted on Monday, but it could take up to three months before the results of the pathological tests were known.

Roestoff said Nomakhwezi apparently arrived at her friend Hlubi Mboya's home at the Incanga Country Loft townhouse complex at around 11pm on Friday to spend the night.

Hlubi told the police that when Nomakhwezi arrived she had an asthma pump with her and later went to sleep. It is believed that Hlubi discovered that Nomakhwezi had died the next morning.

Newspapers reported on Sunday of rumours that Nomakhwezi, Hani's second daughter, was dragged into using drugs by friends.

However, Roestoff stressed that no drugs were found at the home.

Police were informed of the incident at 11.35am and arrived at the scene just before noon.

Flying squad members could not get hold of Nomakhwezi's mother, Limpho, to inform her of her daughter's death. The City Press newspaper reported that Limpho did not know of the incident when a reporter phoned her.

She apparently told the newspaper: "Where did you get that story and what reasons did your sources advance to you that she was dead? I want to tell you there is no truth in it."

Roestoff said police tried to inform her, but there was only an answering machine available when they phoned her home number.

Nomakhwezi's friend, Hlubi, apparently then phoned her on her cellphone at around 2pm.

Limpho and former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale visited the complex later in the day.

Nomakhwezi was a second-year psychology student at Bond College in Rivonia, Johannesburg. She was single and had no children.

Her father was killed in 1993 by Polish immigrant Janus Walusz and Conservative Party member Clive Derby-Lewis on the eve of the country's first democratic election.

Walusz and Derby-Lewis are serving life sentences for the murder.

Nomakhwezi's mother was among the first democratically-elected parliamentarians after the 1994 elections. - Sapa

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