The killers of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani should never be considered for amnesty, said the Young Communist League (YCL) on the weekend.
”As the YCL we call on our government and President Thabo Mbeki not to even consider this amnesty or pardon,” said YCL national secretary Buti Manamela, speaking in Wallacedean in Cape Town.
He said there had been talk of amnesty or a presidential pardon for both right-wing politician Clive Derby-Lewis and Polish assassin Janusz Walus, both serving life terms for the April 10 1993 killing.
”As the YCL we would want to see both of them rotting in hell mainly because they are not prepared to assist with more information on who else was involved in the assassination of Chris Hani.”
He reiterated calls for the reopening of the investigation into Hani’s killing.
Manamela said Hani did not believe in centralising power in the hands of a few elected officials, and warned that leaders now faced the challenge of closing the gap between themselves and the people.
”The advent of democracy and the occupation of new positions by our leaders have widened this gap between them and the people,” said Manamela.
He said the political distance between leaders and voters made it impossible to pick up on issues that affected communities, so leaders provided the wrong solutions to problems.
”When we want food and houses, they use the land for golf courses and game farms. When we want healthcare and education for free, they tell us these can be provided if we can afford [them].
”In memory of Chris Hani, we should claim power as the people and direct our leadership.”
Manamela said the tripartite alliance between the African National Congress, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) should be consolidated and defended.
”Let’s accept that there’s always going to be a struggle within the ANC [not a hostile struggle] for the predominance of the ideas of the various classes within the ANC; there’ll always be an attempt to balance these tendencies within the ANC.
”The ANC has always got to have these tendencies, otherwise it wouldn’t be the ANC.”
He called on Mbeki to act in the interest of a strong alliance.
”The alliance is currently undergoing an unprecedented crisis, which is as a result of arrogance [and] uncensored insults hurled at the leaders of the SACP and Cosatu by some members of the ANC national executive council.” — Sapa