Zuma allegedly promised pardons to Chris Hani’s killers – report

Jacob Zuma

Cape Town – Former president Jacob Zuma allegedly promised presidential pardons to Chris Hani’s killers, Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, according to PR strategist Liesl Göttert.

She claims to have witnessed Zuma’s 2004 meeting with Derby-Lewis in prison, The Citizen reported, quoting City Press. 

Walus also mentioned the meeting in a recent interview with  eNCA but said nothing came of it.

“I know that Jacob Zuma visited Clive. I don’t know what he wanted, but he was very positively discussed. It looked like he was going to help us somehow, and I don’t know why, but finally, nothing came out of it,” he said.

The MK party defended Zuma, saying he had no obligation to explain his actions. 

“I’m sure you’ll understand when you’re a president, there’s some secrecy and a certain oath that you need to take naturally. So the president doesn’t have to explain himself if he doesn’t need to, and it could be that there are sensitive issues that could maybe lead to other matters that are not required to come out naturally,” MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela.

The former president is said to have told Derby-Lewis that he recognised Clive’s actions as those of a soldier fighting for his people, while attributing Walus’ motives to his deep-seated opposition to communism, shaped by his upbringing in that system.

Göttert, however, said that Zuma later admitted he couldn’t grant the pardons due to opposition within the ANC and SACP.

“He said he couldn’t do it because there are forces in the ANC and the SACP that wouldn’t allow it. And this after he had promised Clive in that small room. Clive was so disappointed; he just shook his head when I went to tell him. He told me: ‘I respected him so much; I believed him,'” she was quoted as saying.

Derby-Lewis died in 2016 after being released on medical parole, while Waluś was deported to Poland in 2022.

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