The Star
*SACP to protest Derby-Lewis parole* *Christelle Terreblanche, The Star, Johannesburg, 23 June 2010*SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande was today to lead a delegation in Pretoria to object to the first parole hearing of rightwinger Clive Derby-Lewis, serving a life sentence for the 1993 assassination of SACP leader Chris Hani.
The intervention by Nzimande, who is also the minister of higher education, was revealed yesterday. The party has repeatedly called for an inquest into Hani's death to be reopened - most recently at its Western Cape congress at the weekend.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission rejected amnesty applications by Derby-Lewis and Polish immigrant Janusz Walus in 1999 on the grounds that they did not make full disclosure of the facts behind the killing. Both men later lost a high court application to have the TRC decision overturned.
SACP spokesman Malesela Maleka said yesterday: "We will sweat and soldier on till the riddle around the assassination of comrade Chris Hani is solved. We will remain true and committed to Madiba's commitment to the nation that the assassination of comrade Chris will not be just another statistic.
"Chris lived so that we could be free, and his life was taken for our freedom to be achieved. We dare not betray what Chris stood for now that we are free.
"We dare not allow these right-wing butchers to abuse our constitution and legal framework in the name of justice. Messrs Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus deserve nothing but to rot in jail," Maleka said.
Last year Derby-Lewis, 74 - convicted for aiding and abetting the murder - lost an unusual court bid to be granted parole. The Pretoria High Court rejected the application, based on Derby-Lewis's argument that he had already served 15 years of his life sentence, was older than 65 and had been rehabilitated.
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