Walus moved from Poland to South Africa in 1981 and obtained citizenship, which was revoked after a murder conviction.
He was originally sentenced to death along with his co-defendant Clive Derby-Lewis, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after South Africa abolished the death penalty.
He told Truth and Reconciliation Commission, external tribunal in 1997 he killed Hani to “plunge the country into a state of chaos that would allow the right to seize power.”
Walus said his experiences under communist Poland contributed to his decision to kill Hani.
At the time, the country was in dire straits as South Africa was nearing the end of apartheid, a racist system of white minority rule.
ANC leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and negotiated with apartheid leaders on how to end white rule and hold elections, while some in the white community feared a breakdown in law and order and civil unrest.
Many feared that Hani’s assassination would start a race war. Some say it nearly derailed South Africa’s transition to democracy the following year.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula told a press briefing that Walus had “deprived South Africa of one of its greatest leaders”.
He added that his deportation without “full admission of his actions and conspiracy is an injustice.”
Mbalula called for a comprehensive investigation into the killing to “expose the full scale of the crime”. The South African Communist Party echoed the same sentiments.
Walus became a notorious figure for the far-right spaces of Poland. His face was printed on scarves, t-shirts and posters. This item was even sold in South Africa.
A journalist who interviewed Walus for the book said that extremists in the country see him as “the great hope of the white race.”
Walus never expressed remorse for killing Hana.
