Janus Wallis released: Extremist who killed South African Chris Haney to be deported to Poland

A notorious right-wing extremist convicted of murdering South African anti-apartheid hero Chris Haney will be extradited to his native Poland, the government has said.

Janos Wallis, 71, shot and killed Hani outside her home in 1993 during a tense moment as the country prepared for its first multi-ethnic elections.

He spent nearly three decades in prison in South Africa before being released on parole in 2022, sparking protests and outcry in a nation still reeling from the legacy of apartheid and apartheid.

Interior Minister Leon Schreiber said Wallace was due to leave South Africa on Friday night and the Polish government would pay the costs of the deportation.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the South African Minister in the Presidency, said that this decision was not taken by the government, but they are following the decision of the Constitutional Court.

Schreiber said on X that it was a “painful day” and a reminder of the “dark times” of apartheid for South Africans.

Hani’s widow, Limpho Hani, expressed her grief, condemning the government and the South African Communist Party (SACP) for informing her only at the last minute. He said he only learned of Wallace’s release on Thursday.

Hani was a key member of the African National Congress (ANC), which led the fight against white minority rule and has been in power ever since, and is also the head of the South African Communist Party. Since his assassination, he has become revered as a hero of the country’s fight for freedom and equality.

The ANC reflected on the pain caused by Hani’s killing and said the release was “a reminder of the bullet that pierced our hearts, killing a father and a comrade”.

It read, “Your disgusting hand drips with the blood of a martyr and freedom fighter who paid the ultimate price for freedom and love of humanity, democracy and justice.”

Wallace emigrated from Poland to South Africa in 1981 and was granted citizenship, which was revoked after his murder conviction.

He was initially sentenced to death along with his co-defendant Clive Derby-Lewis, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after South Africa abolished the death penalty.

He told Truth and Reconciliation Commission The tribunal executed Hani in 1997 for “plunging the country into a state of chaos that would allow the right to take over”.

Wallis said his experiences under communist Poland played a role in his decision to kill Hani.

Tensions were high at the time, as South Africa was nearing the end of apartheid, the apartheid rule of the white minority.

ANC leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and was negotiating for a peaceful transfer of power and elections, while some members of the white community feared a breakdown in law and order and civil unrest. There was fear.

Many feared that Hani’s killing would start an ethnic war. Some say it almost derailed South Africa’s transition to democracy, which took place the following year.

ANC secretary-general Fikele Mbulola told a press briefing that Wallis had “lost South Africa one of its great leaders”.

“It is an injustice to deport them without full acknowledgment of their actions and conspiracies,” he added.

Mbalula called for a comprehensive investigation into the killing to “expose the full scope of the crime”. The Communist Party of South Africa has echoed the same sentiments.

Wallis has become a notorious figure in far-right spaces in Poland. Her face has been printed on scarves, T-shirts and posters. This product has also been sold in South Africa.

A journalist who interviewed Wallace for a book said that extremists in the country saw him as “the great hope of the white race”.

Wallace never expressed remorse for killing Haney.