Remorse at issue as Walus denied parole again

There were glaring contradictions in psychological reports about the remorse of Chris Hani's killer, Janusz Walus, and this led to Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha denying him parole again. He is serving a life sentence for murdering Chris Hani, the SACP leader at the time. ‘The placement of the offender on parole is not granted. It is directed that a further profile be submitted within six months of this decision for my consideration,’ Masutha said, according to News24. In the psychological report by Joel Mbhele it was found that Walus' ideas on communism still stood and that he had no empathy for killing the leader of the SACP. ‘Regarding empathy, it can be said that he expressed remorse for the fact that the victim's children were fatherless and the wife was a widow. However, he showed no remorse for murdering Chris Hani, the communist leader,’ Masutha said, reading an extract of the report. ‘He still rationalises his actions and insists that they were politically motivated.’ However, in the report of Zelda Buitendag, Walus' own private psychologist, she said he showed sincere remorse. ‘When asked about his reasoning regarding Mr Hani's murder and if he is rationalising it, he admits to rationalising the assassination before, during and shortly after committing the offence, but says he realises that violence and killing someone is not the answer, even if people have different views,’ Buitendag was quoted as saying by Masutha. Masutha said in light of the conflicting reports, Buitendag and Mbhele were directed to jointly assess Walus and file a joint report on the issues of risk of re-offending and remorse. He added that Walus should undergo individual psychotherapy to address challenges highlighted in Buitendag's report, which include depression, suicidal thoughts and explosive anger episodes.

Walus is likely to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, according to a Beeld report. Advocate Roelof du Plessis, acting on behalf of Walus, described the Minister’s decision as ‘mere politics’. ‘We are now considering approaching the Constitutional Court directly to get a final decision, because we cannot go back and forth like this with Mr Walus’ application.’ Du Plessis says while the High Court has already found against the Minister on previous occasions and referred the matter back to him, the Minister returns ‘with the same reasons or new ones’ every time.