Members of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its allied Communist Party protested outside Johannesburg’s Constitutional Court to express their outrage over the decision to free the man who murdered anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani.
Janusz Walus, a Polish immigrant, murdered Hani in 1993 to sabotage the transition from white minority rule to democracy.
On Monday, Chief Justice Ray Zondo directed the country’s corrections minister to grant Walus parole.
Panyaza Lesufi, a senior ANC member, said more protests were planned to coincide with his expected release next week.
Walus killed Hani as he picked up the newspapers outside his home in April 1993 by shooting him at point-blank range in the chin, behind the ear and in the chest.
He was arrested and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life after South Africa abolished the death penalty at the end of apartheid, a legalised system of racial discrimination, in 1994.
Hani’s murder still evokes deep emotions in South Africa. He was regarded as the most popular politician after South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela, and his death caused much shock and anger.