Sunday Tribune

‘Guidelines will benefit almost 5 000 lifers’

SAMKELO MTSHALI samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za

THE Constitutional Court’s decision this week to grant parole to Janusz Walus after his spending almost 30 years behind bars for assassinating SACP General Secretary Chris Hani has been described as a case study that could assist about 5 000 others who are serving life sentences.

The Concourt delivered a unanimous decision to release Walus on parole after several of his applications, made since 2011, had been rejected by the Department of Justice.

The apex court ruled that Walus be released within 10 days of the ruling which was handed down on Monday.

The EFF has slammed the ruling as insensitive and called for Walus to remain behind bars until his death.

The Tripartite Alliance said it would embark on a programme of action which began with a picket yesterday at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.

Walus’ attorney Julian Knight told the Sunday Tribune that Walus was fully rehabilitated, had been a model prisoner for 28 years and had not had any disciplinary offences behind bars.

He said what was important with the Constitutional Court’s Walus judgment was that it could also benefit about 5000 other “lifers” like him.

“With regard to the guidelines that the minister must use, the court said the guidelines were part of the parole manual for the old act of 1959,” Knight said.

The Concourt ruled that in terms of section 136, the parole regime applicable to Walus was one that was provided for in the Correctional Services Act 11 of 1959.

“In terms of section 65(2) of the 1959 Act the minister has the power to place on parole any prisoner to whom the parole regime under the 1959 Act applies. Those are prisoners who were sentenced prior to October 1, 2004,” the Concourt judgment said.

Knight said that he did not know what would happen after Walus was released but they were hoping the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola was working on the matter.

“He qualifies in terms of the department’s guidelines. We have a situation in this country where everyone is eligible for parole but the exception is if an offender remains a danger to society.

“Here you have a murder and just because of who the victim was there’s a different set of rules. It can’t be so. We have a principle, a Constitution that guarantees equality before the law,” Knight said.

In opposing Walus’ parole, Lamola, the SACP and Hani’s widow Limpho Hani argued that Lamola’s decision not to grant parole was justified and rational as his actions nearly plunged South Africa into a civil war.

In his defence, Walus told the Concourt that he had been in prison for 28 years and was sorry for what he had done.

“I have apologised to the Hani family, I am not a risk to the community and have complied with all that I have been asked to do to improve my prospects of getting parole but there is nothing I can do about the nature of the crime I committed, its seriousness and the sentencing remarks of the courts,” Walus said in his application.

Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services, said they could not confirm what would happen to Walus after his release as they were busy working on the administrative issues and legalities of the parole ruling.

Attempts to get comment on whether or not Walus would be deported to Poland proved unsuccessful as Home Affairs spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza did not respond to questions.

METRO

en-za

2022-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytribune.pressreader.com/article/281573769707326

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