Johannesburg - Janusz Walus has been stabbed at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Facility in Tshwane on the eve of the killer’s release on parole.
This was confirmed by a Department of Correctional Services (DSC) in a statement last night. It said that Chris Hani’s killer was receiving medical assistance at a DSC health-care facility.
“A detailed incident report is to be provided at a later stage, but what can be stated at this point is that inmate Walus is stable and DSC health-care officials are providing the necessary care,” DSC spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said.
The department said Walus was allegedly stabbed by an inmate from the same housing unit.
“Stabbings and other forms of disturbances are offences not warranted in a correctional environment, and this case will be investigated,” said a department the statement.
Last week, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Raymond Zondo ordered that the convicted killer of liberation icon Chris Hani should be released on parole within 10 days.
Hani, a stalwart of the liberation struggle, was assassinated outside his house in Dawn Park, Boksburg, on April 10, 1993.
Justice Zondo said the decision made by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola in March 2020, rejecting Walus’s application for parole, would be set aside.
“The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services is ordered to place the applicant on parole on such terms and conditions that he may deem appropriate and to take all such steps that may need to be taken to ensure that the applicant is released on parole, within 10 calendar days of this order,” Justice Zondo said.
IOL reported that Walus’s lawyer, Julian Knight, said the decision by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to grant Walus a special exemption in order for him to serve his parole in South Africa was unlawful.
Knight said the decision was unlawful and added that Lamola had yet to determine the conditions of parole for Walus.
His comments come after Motsoaledi announced that he had granted an exemption in order for Walus to remain in the country and to serve his parole here.
In a statement, the minister said the exemption contained a condition that Walus may not use any travel document and/or passport issued by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland to return to his country of origin.
Meanwhile, the stabbing of Walus happened just days after City of Ekurhuleni municipal officials discovered that the Chris Hani Memorial Site at the Thomas Nkobi Cemetery in Boksburg had been vandalised.
In a statement issued by the tripartite alliance on Monday, the alliance partners urged law enforcement agencies to investigate the recent incidents of vandalism.
“Law enforcement agencies must investigate who is behind the provocative attack to bring them to book,” the alliance said.
The Star