/ 21 June 2013

Chris Hani’s ‘daughter’ drops ANC for Agang

Chris Hani's 'daughter' Drops Anc For Agang

The Sowetan on June 21 reported that Vanessa Hani – allegedly the daughter of the slain South African Communist Party (SACP) leader who was assassinated 20 years ago – has accused the ANC of "betraying her father's legacy".

But Hani's widow Limpho Hani on a Friday radio talk show called into question the legitimacy of Hani's claims and challenged her and her sister to take a paternity test.

Speaking to the Sowetan on Thursday, Hani said the ANC and SACP "no longer had direction".

Vanessa Hani said the betrayal has led to her decision to join Dr Mamphela Ramphele's political party, Agang, which will be officially launched on Friday, the paper reported.

Anti-apartheid activist Ramphele announced on June 6 that she applied to register her party political platform Agang as an official political party.

Agang was formed as a political platform in February and will launch as a party at the Pretoria Show Grounds in Tshwane on Saturday.

But Hani's daughter Lindiwe tweeted that she did not know of Vanessa being her sister.

Limpho Hani, meanwhile, emphatically protested against her husband's "name being used in vain" in the talkshow on Friday.

The Sowetan reports both Vanessa and her sister, Cleopatra, were born before Hani married Limpho.

It's not the first time the pair have been critical of South Africa's political leaders. They have previously presented themselves as Hani's daughters at various times, though this has not sat well with Limpho Hani and her daughter, as she explained in the radio interview on Friday, saying she could no longer be quiet on the matter.

'I don't listen to them'
In the Sowetan report, Vanessa Hani said of the SACP: "I don't listen to them. I don't know what they are really about and I don't know their leaders … except its general secretary Blade Nzimande."

The daily on Friday said that Vanessa Hani felt it would be unfair to predict what her father – who was also Umkhonto weSizwe chief-to-staff – would think about the current state of the ANC and SACP.

She added that Chris Hani's assassination was a "wound that would never heal and has even worsened by the rampant corruption, unemployment and inequality in the country".

According to the report, Hani said she made the decision to join Agang after meeting Ramphele.

"Two senior officials in the ANC told me to go ahead when I shared with them. They are also unhappy but can't leave because they say they will be considered traitors."