How Chris Hani’s killer became a neo-Nazi idol
After the Constitutional Court ordered Janusz Walus’ release on parole, a Polish anti-racism group said the decision would be met with an “explosion of neo-Nazi joy.”
JANUSZ WALUS REVERED AS A NEO-NAZI ICON ACROSS THE WORLD
Walus was officially released on Wednesday, 8 December, after spending decades in prison for the 1993 assassination of the South African Communist Party (SACP) leader, Chris Hani.
READ MORE: Janusz Walus released on parole
“I know what it means for the racists and the neo-Nazis in Poland and internationally. I would say that we can see an explosion of joy on social media on the part of the far right … those people who see Janusz Waluś as a role model.
“If he is to return to Poland, for some on the far right he is to be welcomed as a hero. He will be seen as a model for the violent far-right extremist movement in Europe,” said Rafal Pankowski, the spokesperson for the Never Again Association, to Cape Talk.
Walus will not return to Poland as the Department of Home Affairs issued him an exemption in terms of the Immigration Act, which will grant permanent residence in South Africa for the duration of his parole.
“The Minister of Home Affairs further believes that the heinous crime committed to the people of South Africa by murdering one of the icons of the liberation struggle makes it obligatory that Mr Walus must serve his parole period as part of sentence in the Republic of South Africa,” said the Department in a statement on Monday, 28 November.
In Poland, Walus became a cult hero among young nationalists and fascists, especially football supporters, The BBC reported in 2020. He reportedly started receiving letters from Polish supporters in 2010.
Banners of support display his portrait and encouraging slogans such as “Free Janusz Walus” and “Stay Strong Brother” are frequently seen at matches.
‘THE CULT OF JANUSZ WALUS’
Pankowski said the “cult of Janusz Walus” started in the 1990s but has picked up and spread in recent years. “It represents not only the growing acceptance of racism, but also a growing acceptance of politically motivated violence.”
READ: Far-right Polish soccer fans idolising killer Janusz Walus
“They wrote to him that they admired him because he tried to stop communism in South Africa, that he is the great hope of the white race,” said journalist Cezary Lazarewicz, who interviewed Walus for his book.
“Walus told me that he was very sorry for killing Lindiwe’s father. But he never regretted [killing a] communist leader. He told me, in 1993, there was a war in South Africa and he felt like a soldier… he still believes in the system of racial segregation and that whites and blacks should live apart,” said Lazarewicz.
The BBC said Walus’ long-held views on communism could explain how he became an icon of white supremacist groups.
“[The ANC] are communist and they will destroy this wonderful country,” Walus declared during his trial. “They will squander all that was built here by whites with such difficulty. It pains me that everything here will be destroyed in the name of a multiracial utopia that will never work here.”
Later, at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Walus’ accomplice, Clive Derby-Lewis, who died in 2016, said killing Hani was meant to “strike a blow for almighty God and Christianity against the Antichrist, communism and the leader of the Communist Party.”
After moving to South Africa from communist Poland, Walus joined the National Party and became involved with pro-apartheid and far-right movements, including Eugene Terre’Blanch’s Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB).
Derby-Lewis was first a member of the National Party, but he served as a parliament member for the Conservative Party at the time of Hani’s assassination.
DAUGHTER SAYS HE RECEIVED FUNDS FROM HOME
Walus’ daughter, Ewa, who lives in Poland, said his supporters collected money to pay his legal fees. She said her father would not have been able to repeatedly appeal for parole without the financial assistance.
However, she told The Observer that she does not accept donations from fascist or neo-Nazi organisations.
The Observer reported that Walus wrote to fans of Legia Warsaw and Raków Częstochowa to thank them for their support.
“I wish to express my deep and warm gratitude for your spiritual and material support. For all your campaigns. For the postcards. For the demonstrations in the stadiums. For the funds that make my/our legal battle possible. I don’t know what I would do without your help,” he wrote in 2018.
READ: