Janusz Waluś

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Janusz Waluś (born 1953 in Zakopane) is a Polish immigrant to South Africa who assassinated Chris Hani on April 10, 1993.

The timing of the event, just prior to the first democratic elections in South Africa, caused considerable political tension in the country. Only Nelson Mandela's personal pleas for calm were able to defuse the situation^[1]:

“

Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. A white man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that our whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice, this assassin. The cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani has sent shock waves throughout the country and the world. ... Now is the time for all South Africans to stand together against those who, from any quarter, wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for – the freedom of all of us.

”

The assassination was ultimately unsuccessful at derailing the dismantling of apartheid.

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