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30 years on: What lessons can we glean from Chris Hani's legacy?
As my family and I moved closer to civilisation, after spending the Easter weekend at the Kruger Park, the anger was palpable in the air.
In April 1993, there was no such thing as cellphones. We had no idea what we were heading towards as we approached Johannesburg, but we knew we were on the precipice of something big. At a petrol station, where we stopped to fill up, the veil was lifted. Newspaper headlines screamed of the death of popular SACP leader Chris Hani. A photo showed his lifeless body lying in a pool of blood, in his driveway, not far from where we lived.
Negotiations to end apartheid were already fraught. Just nine days before Hani's death the Multiparty Negotiating Forum (MPNF) met for the first time, following the collapse of Codesa 1 and 2. The country was primed for a civil war.
Polish émigré Janusz Walus who, with Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis as the brains behind the assassination, brought South Africa to the brink when he shot and killed Hani.
As News24's legal writer Karyn Maughan writes in this week's edition of Friday Briefing, Nelson Mandela would play a crucial role in calming the masses.
In a televised address Mandela said it was "the time for all South Africans to stand together against those who, from any quarter, wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for – the freedom of all of us".
She considers several conspiracy theories 30 years after Hani's murder and how they've focused unfairly on his comrades and not on the right wing.
Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, who was part of the SACP's central committee, reflects on the lessons to be learnt from Hani's legacy. He writes that the only way out of our current crisis would be to work with the people from the grassroots up - something Hani knew well.
Former secretary-general of Cosatu, Mbhazima Shilowa explains that while Hani's killers intended to derail any peaceful transfer of power, it had the opposite outcome. Following Hani's death, a date for elections was quickly set, and negotiations were speeded up.
Finally, News24's assistant editor of politics and opinions, Qaanitah Hunter examines the South African Communist Party in its current form, and asks what Hani would have thought.
It's a heavy read over the long weekend, but a necessary one.
Best,
Vanessa Banton
Opinions editor.
30 years on, conspiracy theories about Chris Hani's murder turn the ANC on itself
Chris Hani's murderers said his assassination was intended to trigger a bloody civil war in South Africa, ending any hope of democracy. But, Karyn Maughan writes, questions about who may have benefitted from this have unfairly focused on Hani's comrades – not the right wing.
History demands we follow in Chris Hani's footsteps
We need to recalibrate and regain the path to the future Chris Hani was building. Ronnie Kasrils writes that this would be the best way to honour his life.
30 years on, let's celebrate Chris Hani by committing to live by his principles
Thirty years ago, the country was robbed of one of its most charismatic leaders, who no doubt would have played an important role in a democratic South Africa and in government, writes Mbhazima Shilowa.
SACP has become exactly what Chris Hani feared
Three decades after Chris Hani's death, the once formidable vanguard of the working class is now a political club with leaders who are comfortable in the cushions of power, writes Qaanitah Hunter.
