Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - Minister in the Presidency for State Security Mondli Gungubele has not responded to questions relating to an old video that has raised new questions about the circumstances around the assassination of Chris Hani.
In the video, which surfaced yet again after the Constitutional Court granted parole to Hani’s killer Janusz Walus this week, the SABC interviewed Gungubele, who was the mayor of Ekurhuleni at the time.
The interview took place outside Hani’s home at Dawn Park, Boksburg. Independent Media first reported about the interview in May this year.
Gungubele then shared details of his interactions with Hani before the murder on April 10, 1993.
He added that Hani told him a day before his death that he had sent his bodyguards home for the weekend. The next day, Hani was assassinated while stepping out of his vehicle at his home.
Polish assassin Walus was later arrested for the murder and has spent 29 years in prison. This week, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo ordered that the Minister of Justice, Correctional Services and Constitutional Development, Ronald Lamola must release Walusśon parole.
The ruling has sparked outrage, with Hani’s widow Limpho Hani and senior ANC members publicly lambasting the Concourt ruling.
In the interview, Gungubele said: “The Tuesday before was the 6th. Remember, he died on the 10th, on Saturday. On the 6th, we were marching with him in Daveyton in commemoration of Solomon Mahlangu. We also marched with him again on the same day on a Tuesday to demand the release of (self-defence units) who were arrested.
“In the evening on the 6th, I came and stayed with him here at his home. I said to him, I remember very well, as if it was prophetic, I said, ‘Chief, thank you that every time we tell people you are going to come, you always come …’ I said, ‘Even if you die tomorrow, you would have left respected leaders.”
The then mayor added that he did not know that Hani was days away from his death.
“I never knew that this would happen. And Friday evening on the 9th, he called to say, ‘Mondli, I have asked my VIP guys to go on the weekend, and I am posting for Neo (Hani’s eldest daughter) some things at the post office, please accompany me in the morning.
“I said he must walk down to my house, but I realised I was wrong, I must actually come and meet him here because nobody must see him walking alone. When I came here I actually spoke on an intercom, he was no longer here. He had left already. Nomakhwezi (Hani’s other daughter) said ‘Daddy has just left,’ ” said Gungubele.
He said he went back to his home and waited until Hani called him and apologised for leaving without him.
“At 10 o’clock, he called me and said, ‘I’m back from town. Sorry for leaving you. I was under siege, many people were greeting me.’ He said, ‘I’ll be going with Nomakhwezi to do (her) hair, then I won’t go out again.’
“(At) 10.20, I got a call. Nomakhwezi said, ‘Uncle Mondli, Uncle Mondli, come, they have shot my dad,’ ” he said, before the interview was brought to an end. Gungubele was mayor of Ekurhuleni from 2010 to 2016.
Reacting to the clip of the interview that resurfaced yesterday on Twitter, @XoliswaZondo said: “Gungubele must tell the nation what really happened to Chris Hani.
“True, one spy is Mondli Gungubele. They put him so close to the hit on Chris Hani,” said @BestSiyaEver.
@LandoNoli wrote: “Gungubele is the last man to speak to the late SACP SG day b4 he was assassinated & knew about off days given to Hani’s bodyguards.”
Meanwhile, the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association said it felt betrayed that Walus was to be released. It also called for the truth to be exposed in defence of Hani.
Pretoria News