Mandela grandson protests release of anti-apartheid leader Hani’s killer

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A SMALL group of demonstrators gathered outside South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday to protest against the release from prison of the man who killed anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani in 1993.

Janusz Walus, a Polish citizen, was granted parole last week after serving nearly 30 years of his life sentence for shooting Hani at point-blank range outside his home. Hani’s murder had triggered nationwide riots.

One of Nelson Mandela’s grandsons, Mandla Mandela, stood among a handful of black-clad demonstrators raising slogans outside parliament.

He recalled Hani’s close working relationship with the late Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president.

‘This release of a murderer of a hero of our struggle for liberation invokes painful memories of the past,’ Mandela told Reuters, saying such killers should be ‘locked up for life.’

Larger demonstrations took place outside a prison in the capital Pretoria where Walus, who is recovering from a prison stabbing, is still being held.

‘He should not come out,’ protestor Nontokozo Shezi said. ‘He can’t kill our leader and then think he can go home.’