Hani: Derby-Lewis won't be given parole

The optimism expressed by the legal team of Chris Hani’s murderer, Clive Derby-Lewis, after his parole application, was premature, Hani’s widow said in a statement on Wednesday.

This followed comments made to the media by Derby-Lewis’ attorney Marius Coertze that the 73-year-old was ‘hopeful” and ‘expecting to be released soon”.

Coertze was also quoted as saying he had a bottle of champagne ‘on standby”.

‘I must state emphatically [state] that neither I nor my legal representatives share Mr Coertze’s optimism,” Limpho Hani said.

‘In the same reports, Derby-Lewis was quoted as having said, ‘If justice is served, I am going home’.

‘We do not agree with Derby-Lewis’s meaning of justice.

He thought it was ‘just’ for him to kill my husband,” she said.

Hani’s widow said she would continue to oppose Derby-Lewis’ parole application and was sure that the ‘overwhelming majority” of South Africans would support her in doing so.

Derby-Lewis had applied for parole on the basis that he was over 65 and had served 15 years of his life sentence.

Derby-Lewis and his accomplice Janusz Walus were sentenced to death for the murder of the South African Communist Party leader in 1993.

The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished.

‘Coertze and Derby-Lewis will have to keep the champagne on ice for a long time,” Hani said.

On Tuesday, legal teams for Clive Derby-Lewis and the five respondents including the Hani family, were at odds as to which laws and their subsequent amendments were to be considered by the full bench in rendering judgement on his possible parole.

The application was heard at the Pretoria High Court.

Acting Judge President Jerry Shongwe and two additional judges—an unprecedented panel for a parole hearing—reserved judgement, saying they realised the matter was urgent and would revert as soon as possible.—Sapa