Chris Hani's monument in Ekurhuleni vandalised

Hani, who was the leader of SACP, was assassinated outside his Boksburg home on April 10, 1993.  

The vandalism at the site comes days after the Constitutional Court ruled that the Polish immigrant who shot and killed Hani be released on parole.

Janusz Walus, 69, has served nearly three decades of a life sentence for the murder, which took South Africa to the brink of a race war as negotiations to end apartheid entered their final phase.

The ANC in Gauteng says it believes that his supporters are behind the acts of vandalism of the monument, which comprises of Hani’s gravesite, the Chris Hani Memorial and the Walk of Remembrance.

"The vandalism of the Chris Hani Memorial is not isolated from this global reality,” says the ANC Gauteng spokesperson Lesego Makhubela.

“Those who are resistant to change, who deem Walus a hero, are emboldened by the decision of the Constitutional Court. The vandalism of the memorial is a testament to their contempt of the life of a man who fought for equality – something that racists abhor. This mobilisation of a local and global right-wing element is one of the many reasons that Walus should not be paroled.

“His release is not only a cruel injustice to the Hani family, the Congress movement and the broader South African society, but imminent danger to marginalised groups in Poland and elsewhere in the world. This is because right-wing movements like those in Poland which support him, are organised around a philosophy of racism, sexism, xenophobia and related intolerances.

“There is no doubt that even if he is deported to his home country, Walus will still pose as a threat to minorities who are already battling structural and systemic challenges in Poland and across the European Union, where the right is on the rise, to the detriment of human rights.”

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