Reports in the national media this week stated that Justice Minister, Michael Masutha, plans to revoke the South African citizenship of Janusz Walus and deport him back to Poland after his release on parole. Walus is serving a life sentence for the assassination of the SACP Secretary General, Chris Hani, on April 10, 1993. Walus immigrated to South Africa from Poland in 1981 and became a naturalized citizen.
If the Minister and the ANC Government is to regard Walus as a foreigner and a convicted criminal who acted from political conviction, they should also recognize the similarities between Janusz Walus and the late Joe Slovo. Slovo was born in Lithuania, immigrated to South Africa, became the Commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe and Secretary General of the SACP, and in this capacity played a leading role in a number of terror attacks against citizens, including the 1983 Church Street bombing. He was convicted of terrorism in 1960 and imprisoned.
FRONT NATIONAL SOUTH AFRICA therefore calls upon the Minister, if he is indeed serious about reconciliation and nation building, to recognize the similarities between the two men under his definition of Walus, and therefore also revoke Joe Slovo’s South African citizenship posthumously.
Daniel Lötter
Head of Information
South Africa Today – South Africa News
