Minister Groenewald reveals limitations on parole revocation for assassin Janusz Walus

IOL News

14-05-2025

Minister Pieter Groenewald says assassin Janusz Walus benefited from a Constitutional Court ruling known as the Van Vuuren judgment, which changed how prisoners sentenced for life before 1994 could be considered for parole.
Image: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said his hands are tied in revoking the parole of Janusz Walus, who killed former SACP general secretary and Umkhonto weSizwe chief of staff Chris Hani.
This emerged when Groenewald made a presentation on the process leading to the revocation of parole for parolees to the Correctional Services on Tuesday.
EFF MP Carl Niehaus said the release of Walus meant that he was not placed under permanent control of the Correctional Services system.
Niehaus noted that he was allowed to be deported to his home country in Poland within two years after his release.
'If he breaks the parole condition as any other lifer would have done and is returned to prison, that would not happen.'
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Niehaus also said Walus had, in an interview after his release, stated that if he got a chance to do what he did, he would do it again, in what he described as his not being rehabilitated.
'Would the minister consider, under the circumstances, to approach the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and also the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and request to make a formal request to the government of Poland for extradition of Walus back to South Africa on the basis he had broken South African law, and if he was still in South Africa after that interview would he be taken back to prison?' asked Niehaus.
Patriotic Alliance MP Marlon Daniels said his party was in full support of checking the prospects of extraditing Walus to South Africa because he had shown no remorse.
'He never deserved to be let out on parole,' Daniels said.
In response, Groenewald said Walus benefited from a Constitutional Court ruling known as the Van Vuuren judgment, which changed how prisoners sentenced for life before 1994 could be considered for parole.
The judgment had ruled that prisoners imprisoned for a life sentence could serve a minimum of 10 or 15 years in exceptional cases before being considered for parole, as opposed to the initial 20 years.
'As a minister, I can only comply with court findings and the law. In the Walus case, that was before my time. It was a Constitutional Court decision. I am not to argue with the Constitutional Court decision.'
He said the court had determined that Walus, after three years of serving the minimum period, it meant he was eligible for parole, and it was the responsibility of the department to comply.
'It is out of our hands, and that is why he was deported to Poland,' Groenewald said.
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