Justice Malala has written an article for Times LIVE on the 20th anniversary of Chris Hani’s assassination. He recalls visiting Hani’s home that day and the fear and anger that people were feeling. Malala writes about President FW de Klerk’s decision to let Nelson Mandela announce Hani’s death as he knew, “Mandela was the key to restoring calm and peace to the angry populace”.

Malala goes on to say that the “same people who will be praising him will mostly likely, in their daily execution of their duties, be trampling on much of what he fought and died for”. He references the deaths of 13 defense force soldiers in the Central African Republic last month and President Jacob Zuma’s reticence on the matter, saying that, “They seem to have forgotten that our struggle, the struggle of Hani, was exactly about the preservation of the life of that young soldier who died a lonely death in the CAR – and the right of citizens to demand answers.”

This week, many people will cast their mind back 20 years and remember Chris Hani, the fiery ANC and SA Communist Party leader. They will shudder, those who remember, and reflect on just how close we were to civil war this week 20 years ago.

Hani was murdered on April 10 1993 by a right-wing assassin, Janusz Walus.

• Complete article: Times LIVE

Book details

• Let Them Eat Cake by Justice Malala
  EAN: 9780620448888
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