An application for parole by Clive Derby-Lewis, killer of former South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani, was postponed in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.
The matter was postponed to mid-November to allow other parties to be joined to the motion.
Derby-Lewis (72), who made a brief appearance in court, was convicted along with Janusz Walus for Hani’s assassination on April 10 1993.
Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in 1995.
Derby-Lewis’ attorney, Marius Coertze, said the Hani family joined the motion on Monday afternoon.
Earlier, Coertze said his client would have been a free man on October 15 following a recommendation of the parole board.
”On August 19 he appeared before the parole board in Pretoria on a recommendation they received from the case management committee,” he said.
”They recommended that Mr Derby-Lewis must be released on parole on October 15 2008.”
Because Derby-Lewis was 72 and had served 15 years of his sentence, he had become eligible for parole in terms of the Minimum Sentences Act and the Correctional Services Act, Coertze said.
However, the parole board gave the Hani family time to raise objections. — Sapa