Pole who killed prominent RSA politican granted parole

Janusz Waluś, a Polish migrant in the Republic of South Africa, who killed anti-apartheid hero Chris Hani has been granted parole after 23 years in prison. In 1993, he was sentenced to life in prison, the BBC reported. Judge Janse van Nieuwenhuizen, at the High Court in the capital, Pretoria, ruled that Walus should be freed in two weeks' time, and a parole board should set the conditions for his release. Hani's widow, Limpho condemned the white judge's decision as racist. The South African Communist Party (SACP), which Hani led at the time of his death, also reacted with disappointment. Hani was shot dead by Waluś while picking up the morning newspapers from his driveway at his home in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. The murder of Hani backfired on South Africa's white supremacists. They hoped that the killing of a politician who was idolised by most black people but hated by many of their white counterparts would escalate conflict in South Africa, and open the way for them to seize power in the ensuing chaos. But the opposite happened, as it galvanised Mr Mandela resolve to press South Africa's then-President FW de Klerk to set a date for the first democratic election to end centuries of racial oppression. Walus, 63, was involved in far-right politics, and opposed moves to end apartheid, which legalised discrimination against black people.