The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Friday expressed displeasure at the “eleventh-hour notification” given to freedom fighter Chris Hani’s family on Thursday night, relating to the deportation of Janusz Waluś.

Waluś, a Polish immigrant, had been on parole since 2022, following his conviction and imprisonment for the assassination of SACP secretary-general Hani in 1993.

Government, in a statement on Friday, confirmed the decision to deport Waluś and said the National Commissioner of Correctional Services would formally hand him over to the Department of Home Affairs to carry out the process.

"Today, the 6th December 2024, the parole period of Janus Waluz has come to an end in line with the Constitutional Court decision. Since Janus Waluz (sic) no longer holds any South African enabling documents, the Department of Home Affairs will be deporting him," government said.

The SACP said Waluś's release on parole was a source of anger and disappointment, and it hit out against the Department of Correctional Services.

The party had strongly opposed amnesty and parole for Waluś and his co-accused Clive-Derby Lewis, who had died during medical parole.

The party said, together with Hani’s family, it had met with a government delegation led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile and three Ministers on Thursday, where it called for an inquest into Hani’s death, saying that without it, justice was incomplete.

Government confirmed that present at the meeting were Mashatile, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni; new Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi; and Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber, to inform the Hani family of the developments.

“While the Hani family and the SACP acknowledged the government’s effort to reach out to the family and the party, this was on the eve of the end of the assassin’s parole. The meeting occurred at 20:00, a few hours before the assassin’s parole ended at midnight. A deportation plan for Waluś, who is neither a South African citizen nor a permanent resident, was already finalised and set to commence the next morning, 6 December 2024. The eleventh-hour notification clearly appeared to be the result of how the Department of Correctional Services, under Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald – leader of the Freedom Front Plus – handled the matter,” the SACP said.

The party and the Hani family voiced concerns over the matter and urged Mashatile to provide Cabinet feedback.

Government also acknowledged it received an inquest request from the SACP and the Hani family and said it would be referred to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

“We made it clear: no family of apartheid-era, or other victims should ever be treated in this manner. This was a joint appeal grounded in justice and humanity,” the SACP said.

Meanwhile, SACP alliance partner the African National Congress (ANC) welcomed Waluś's deportation to Poland.

“As a nation we cannot live with an assassin in our midst. Your callous act is akin to a sharp knife that plunged our inner being and destroyed the soul of a nation which pinned its hope on Cde Chris Hani. You denied Hani's children a caring father, Cde Limpho [Hani] a loving husband. And the nation a great leader who loved his people above himself,” it said.

The ANC added that Waluś’s release did not make him innocent.