Chris Hani (1942 - 1993)

Sun Jun 28, 1942

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Chris Hani, born on this day in 1942, was a leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of “uMkhonto we Sizwe”, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).

Hani was passionate about fighting apartheid even as a child - when he was 12 years old, after hearing his father’s explanations about apartheid and the African National Congress, he wished to join the ANC but was still too young to be accepted. He joined the organization three years later.

Hani received military training in the Soviet Union and served in campaigns during the Zimbabwean War of Liberation, also known as the Rhodesian Bush War.

Despite Hani’s extensive experience with armed struggle, he supported the suspension of the ANC’s armed resistance against apartheid in favor of peaceful negotiations after becoming head of the party in 1991.

Hani was assassinated by Janusz Walus, an anti-communist Polish immigrant, on April 10th, 1993. Walus was aided in the killing by the South African Conservative Party. The first democratic elections of South Africa took place just a year later, on April 27th, 1994.

"Socialism is not about big concepts and heavy theory. Socialism is about decent shelter for those who are homeless. It is about water for those who have no safe drinking water. It is about health care, it is about a life of dignity for the old. It is about overcoming the huge divide between urban and rural areas.

It is about a decent education for all our people. Socialism is about rolling back the tyranny of the market. As long as the economy is dominated by an unelected, privileged few, the case for socialism will exist."

  • Chris Hani