Clive Derby-Lewis, one of the men convicted of killing SACP secretary general Chris Hani, should be freed, the Front Nasionaal (FN) said on Saturday.
Derby-Lewis is South Africa’s most famous remaining political prisoner, said the group’s deputy leader Dan Roodt in Pretoria, where a march was being held by the convicted killer’s supporters.
In demanding his release, the Afrikaner FN emphasized that it did not mean this as a political statement.
“That might seem like a paradox. Clive is, after all, a consummate politician, a statesman and a leading figure of the conservative movement in South Africa,” said Roodt.
The FN believed freeing Derby-Lewis was the right thing to do.
They demanded his release in the name of “justice, in the name of God or Christian charity and in the name of civilised values”.
“For such an appeal to reason and reasonableness, they will call us right-wing. Or fascists. Or boorish Boers. But we reject all labels and slogans,” Roodt said.
Hani was shot dead in the driveway of his home on April 10 1993.
Derby-Lewis, who was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, has already served more than 20 years of his sentence.
The 78-year-old man, who has been diagnosed with cancer, has twice been denied medical parole.
The SA Communist Party in the Western Cape were due to hold Chris Hani memorial lectures on Saturday.
“…Twenty-one years ago, comrade Chris was assassinated by ignorant cowards outside his residence in Boksburg,” provincial spokesman Masonwabe Sokoyi said in a statement.
He did not comment on millions of “ignorant cowards”, Germans and Eastern Europeans who welcomed the end of communism.
“In the month of April all SACP structures commemorate and pay homage to a virtuous and humble leader of the working class.”
Both the “virtuous leader” Hani and his wife Limpho were having extra-marital affairs when Hani was shot, however.
The SACP supported virulent action against the adulterous comrade Zwelizima Vavi, head of Cosatu.
The 50-year-old Vavi has been fighting to keep his job over the past few months after a probe into whether he is still suitable to lead.
This is not the first time the married father of six – from both his current and previous marriages – has been accused of sexual misconduct.
In 2006, then Cosatu president Willie Madisha compiled a dossier in which he accused Vavi of sexually harassing a married female Cosatu employee. The charges did not stand then.
Around the same time, Vavi was also accused of using the federation’s credit card to bankroll an extra-marital affair, using it to splurge on his and his mistress’ foreign trips without the federation’s knowledge.
City Press reported on how her distraught former husband Bheki Ngema tried in vain to get Madisha to institute disciplinary proceedings against Vavi, and to force Vavi to fork out R700 000 “as compensation so my children would not suffer much”.
Vavi, who lives in Sandton, is thus not a paragon of virtue on matters sexual, and his 14-year career in the federation could come to an end.
The extramarital affair could force him out as Vavi is also swimming against the political tide.
Cosatu’s general secretary is also not the first local politician to be embroiled in a sex or rape scandal.
Here are some others:
» Jacob Zuma
In December 2005, Zuma was charged with the rape of an HIV-positive family friend in what was to become one of the country’s major sex scandals in recent history. He was acquitted in May 2006.
» John Steenhuisen
The DA’s KwaZulu-Natal leader was forced to resign in 2010 after an affair with the party’s provincial spin doctor Terry Kass-Beaumont became public.
» Narend Singh
News of the 2006 sex scandal followed the emergence of a DVD of a tryst between Singh and Roseanne Narandas, wife of jeweller Bob Narandas.
By then, the DVD had been sold around Durban for weeks.
Singh resigned his post as Kwazulu-Natal MEC for arts, culture and tourism, but remained a member of the provincial legislature for the IFP.
» Fikile Mbalula
In 2011, the sports minister had an affair with model Joyce Molamu, whom he paid R10 000 to have an abortion. They had sex twice, said Mbalula, who publicly apologised.
» Malusi Gigaba
The public enterprises minister was sued for R1.7 million in 2011 by a friend, Luka Sandhlane, for having an affair with his wife and ruining their marriage. Gigaba apologised to Sandhlane, who reconciled with his wife.
» Albert Mncwango
The former IFP national organiser had his rape conviction and 10-year sentence overturned by the Pietermaritzburg High Court in 2005. Mncwango – who spent 19 days in jail before successfully appealing – said the rape charge was trumped-up to destabilise the IFP’s elections campaign at the time.
» Mbulelo Goniwe
Goniwe was axed as ANC chief whip and MP in 2006 after being found guilty of sexual harassment. He asked ANC parliamentary administrative assistant Nomawele Njongo to have sex with him after she helped serve dinner to guests at his home.
» Jonas White
The Cederberg mayor was kicked out of the ANC last month for allegedly sending an image of his genitals “embellished with a strawberry and cream” to his deputy, Lorna Scheepers. He is also facing a criminal investigation for alleged sexual harassment.
But Chris Hani strangely has not been knocked off his perch.
It is alleged that Hani still enjoys the protection of advocate Gerrie Nel, the Oscar trial star, and advocate George Bizos.