Chris Hani

Chris Hani (born June 28, 1942, Cofimvaba, South Africa—died April 10, 1993, Boksburg) was a South African political activist who was a prominent member of the African National Congress (ANC), the political party and Black nationalist organization that led the fight to eliminate South Africa’s racially discriminatory policy of apartheid, and served as chief of staff (1987–91) of the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”). Hani also served as secretary-general (1991–93) of the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Early life, education, and introduction to activism

Martin Thembisile Hani was born to Gilbert Hani and his wife, Mary (née Nomayise) Hani, and was one of three of the couple’s six children who survived infancy. Gilbert Hani was a migrant worker and frequently had to live away from his family. Young Martin Hani attended a Roman Catholic primary school and was devout in his beliefs. He admired the social justice aspect of his religion and was enthralled with the Latin language used in the mass. He became an altar server as a young boy and later wanted to become a priest, but his father discouraged that route. Hani joined the ANC Youth League in 1957 while attending Lovedale school. He went on to study Latin and classics at the University of Fort Hare from 1959 to 1961 and at Rhodes University, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962.

Involvement with the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the SACP

After graduating, he briefly prepared for a legal career, but his involvement with the SACP, which he had joined in 1961, and Umkhonto we Sizwe, which he joined the next year, soon took precedence. He underwent military training, fought with Black nationalists in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and directed guerrilla operations against South Africa from bases in Lesotho and Zambia. During this period Hani adopted the first name Chris to help him elude capture by South African authorities. In 1974 Hani married Limpho Sekamane; they would go on to have three daughters. Also that year Hani was elected to the ANC executive council. He was named deputy commander of Umkhonto in 1982 and chief of staff five years later; at the same time, he rose through the leadership ranks of the SACP.

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Hani was foremost among the so-called Young Lions—ANC members who endorsed using violence and accepted that their violence could affect civilians and, indeed, might be the only way to make apartheid unpalatable for the minority white population, in opposition to the more moderate tactics of older leaders, such as Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. In a 1988 interview with The New York Times, Hani said:

I don’t think most whites want to die for apartheid.…Our intention is to make them see, so that when they are maimed and they are in hospital, others will go there to visit them and will say: this is the price of apartheid.…How long are they going to sacrifice loss of limb to maintain a system that deprives the overwhelming majority of the right to vote, the right to a proper house, to proper medical attention, to education?

After the ban on the ANC was lifted by South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk in 1990, Hani returned to South Africa and participated in the negotiations for the peaceful transfer to majority rule. He officially resigned as Umkhonto chief of staff in 1991, when he succeeded Joe Slovo as SACP secretary-general. Hani served as secretary-general of the SACP until his death in 1993.

Assassination and aftermath

Hani, who had survived a number of assassination attempts in previous years, was shot and killed on April 10, 1993, outside his home in Boksburg, a racially integrated suburb near Johannesburg.

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Black South Africans were gripped with grief and outrage over Hani’s assassination, which threatened to derail the tense negotiations for majority rule. In the ensuing days, an estimated one and a half million persons took part in rallies, marches, and other forms of protest. Janusz Waluś, a Polish immigrant, and Clive Derby-Lewis, a leading member of the Conservative Party, were soon arrested for Hani’s murder. It was learned that the two had planned the assassination together. Waluś had been the one to shoot Hani, while Derby-Lewis had supplied Waluś with Hani’s address and the weapon used to kill him. They later admitted that they had hoped Hani’s assassination would derail the negotiations for majority rule and plunge the country into chaos. The two were found guilty in October 1993 and received death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonment. Derby-Lewis was granted medical parole in 2015 and died in 2016. Waluś was paroled in 2022 and deported back to Poland in December 2024.