Johannesburg - The South African Communist Party (SACP) said on Thursday that they hoped that right wingers who had worked with Clive Derby-Lewis in the past now believed in democracy.
Derby-Lewis, who died in a Pretoria hospital aged 80 on Thursday, was the mastermind behind the assassination of anti-apartheid struggle hero Chris Hani.
“Condolences for their loss and we hope those who were with him in the right wing and those who didn’t believe in democracy now believe in it,” SACP sookesperson Alex Mashilo said.
Mashilo said that it was unfortunate that Derby-Lewis had died without making full disclosure of the circumstances around Hani’s death on the eve of democracy in South Africa.
Hani, who was leader of the SACP and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was assassinated on 10 April 1993.
Mashilo acknowledged that Derby-Lewis’s family was going through a difficult time following his death and said now was not the time to make the situation complex again.
An ailing Derby-Lewis was denied parole several times since he began applying from 2010 until a high court finally ordered his release on medical parole last year.
The Hani family and the SACP had consistently objected to his release on parole.
Derby-Lewis was released from prison in June 2015 after serving 21 years. He died after a long battle with lung cancer.
African News Agency