Who really killed Chris Hani? 'Masterminds were never caught' - Judge Chris Nicholson

On 10 April 1993, Janusz Waluś walked up the driveway of Chris Hani’s Dawn Park home and fatally shot him four times.

Although not present at the scene, politician Clive Derby-Lewis supplied the gun, the silencer, and the motive.

Both men were convicted of Hani's murder, and after 29 years behind bars, Waluś was released on parole in 2022.

For most South Africans, the case is closed.

But retired High Court Judge Chris Nicholson says that story is only the cover page.

In his new book 'Who Really Killed Chris Hani?', he argues that the real plotters behind the murder were never caught.

His book points to apartheid death squads, the African Institute of Maritime Research, business empires terrified of Hani’s economic radicalism, and even powerful players inside the ANC who feared his popularity.

Nicholson is no stranger to this type of writing, having previously penned a book about the Craddock Four.

So what prompted him to write this book?

"I live close to a road called Chris Hani Road, and I kept thinking to myself, it's time the truth was told about Chris Hani."

His sense that those truly responsible for Hani's death remain at large led him to investigate who the real architects behind the activist's murder were.

Not Derby-Lewis and Walus, contends Nicholson.

"One sees them as puppets, and one wants to really find out who really had a motive to kill Chris Hani?"

Nicholson suggests there were various people, including the man who owned the car driven by Walus.

"A businessman called Peter Jackson, and if one looked in the case file, one finds an instruction from the security police saying don't follow up Peter Jackson."

And the possibility that the hit could even have come from within the ANC?

"Absolutely, and one is fortunate that the old Afrikaner intelligence officers, after they rode off into the sunset after 1994, all put pen to paper and wrote what they recall of those fateful days."

Nicholson refers to one such officer who devotes a considerable part of his own book to messages communicated between the intelligence agencies of the day about a plot to kill Hani.

According to the officer, they included a provision that Hani's security guards were to be given the day off on the day of his murder.

Nicholson also suggests that Hani's murder could have been linked to the 'keen rivalry' seen in the ANC at the time.

"After Nelson Mandela was going to leave, there was a lot of jockeying for position and on the one side, Hani was a firm favourite, and then there was another camp, led by Thabi Mbeki. So, there is that evidence as well."

Who Really Killed Chris Hani by Chris Nicholson is a downloadable PDF Ebook available at chrisnicholson.co.za.

To listen to Nicholson in conversation with 702's Bongani Bingwa, click below: