Hazel Friedman=20
EUGENE RILEY told me that Chris Hani would=20 be assassinated a few days before the death=20 of this charismatic South African Communist=20 Party leader .
“You mark my words”, he said. “There is a=20 hit-list of top African National Congress=20 officials who are seen as a threat to both=20 sides. There will be chaos in this=20 country.”
At the time I did not take his warning=20 seriously. It was only after Hani fell and=20 Riley introduced me to Amin Laher, that the=20 full impact sank in.=20
A chubby, dapper man of dubious repute,=20 Laher was described by Riley as one of his=20 most “reliable” sources. This much was=20 confirmed to me by Laher himself, soon=20 after our first meeting.=20
Laher, Riley confided, was not merely a=20 respected “MK” soldier and “intelligence=20 source” who had earned the grudging respect=20 of the Civil Co-operationBureau. He had=20 also supplied Riley with invaluable=20 information on the Hani assassination. Now=20 Laher wanted to reveal the details to me, a=20 freelance journalist at the time.=20
Soon Laher offered to give me documents=20 that would confirm that the assassination=20 had been planned by factions hostile to=20 Hani within the ANC. But he insisted that I=20 not investigate their veracity. I declined.