COURT BLOCKS APPEAL AGAINST JANUSZ WALUS PAROLE ORDER

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Chris Hani's widow, Limpho lays a wreath at his grave. A wreath laying ceremony, celebrating the life and legacy of Chris Hani, was held at The Elspark Cemetary in Germiston.
Image by: ALON SKUY/THE TIMES

The justice minister was on Thursday refused permission to appeal against a court order that he must release Chris Hani’s murderer Janusz Walus on parole

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha had challenged Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen’s ruling that his decision to overturn the parole board’s decision to have Walus released was irrational.

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Counsel for the minister‚ Marumo Moerane SC‚ had argued in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday that there was no justification for Janse van Nieuwenhuizen’s ruling.

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Asking Janse van Nieuwenhuizen for leave to appeal against her judgment to the full bench‚ Moerane said the judge did not distinguish between rationality and reasonableness in her judgment.

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“They are lumped together in one sentence.”
Moerane said Masutha’s decision to refuse to release Walus on parole was not unreasonable.
“The ladyship’s finding that the minister’s decision was irrational and unreasonable was a misdirection‚” Moerane argued.
Walus’ advocate‚ Roelof du Plessis SC‚ had on Tuesday submitted that an offender was still being punished if he was released on parole but that the focus upon release shifted to the rehabilitation of the offender.

Du Plessis said there were no prospects of success in an appeal and urged the court to dismiss the application for leave to appeal.
Walus was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder of Hani‚ who was the secretary-general of the South African Communist Party‚ a member of the African National Congress’s national executive committee and uMkhonto we Sizwe leader.

Walus’ sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the Constitutional Court declared in 1995 that capital punishment was inconsistent with the Constitution.
Du Plessis said the retributive and deterrence aspects of the sentence became less important after a person had served a lengthy prison term.
Du Plessis said the court had been correct in finding that Masutha’s April 2015 decision in which he refused to place Walus on parole was irrational and unreasonable.
“Justice has been done and justice is still being done even if this man gets parole‚” Du Plessis said.