What was the significance of Chris Hani's death to the process of negotiation
Answers
Answer:
Chris Hani.
Chris Hani was one of the anti-apartheid movement's most charismatic leaders and Mandela's likely future heir. "[He] often appears on public platforms in the townships wearing quasi-combat fatigues and delivering fiery speeches that arouse and delight the audience,” wrote a Pretoria-based US diplomat in a confidential 1991 cable released by Wikileaks this week. “Many observers believe that Hani would trounce Mbeki if there were a popular vote among ANC supporters,” the communique continued. But, unfortunately, that theory was never given the chance to prove itself.
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On the afternoon of the 10th of April, 1993 – 20 years ago, yesterday – Chris Hani pulled up out outside his home in Boksburg, a quiet suburb of Johannesburg. While stepping out of his car, he was being watched by Janusz Walus, a neo-Nazi Polish immigrant. "I tucked my Z-88 pistol into the back of my trouser belt and got out of my car,” Walus recalledsome years later. “I didn't want to shoot him in the back. I called, 'Mr Hani'. When he turned, I drew my pistol from the belt and shot him in the stomach. As he fell, I shot a second bullet into his head. When he fell on the ground, I shot him again twice behind the ear."
Hani died instantly. Now, 20 years after his assassination, internet chatrooms still buzz with speculation both about his murder and, more poignantly, about the type of country South Africa might have been had he lived.
Hani was an important player in the delicate negotiation process that had progressed in fits-and-starts since Mandela’s release in 1990, and – at the time of Hani's death – was on the verge of a significant breakthrough. The assassin, Walus, had been sent to Boksburg to ensure that this didn't happen. At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearingsin 1997, Walus and former politician Clive Derby-Lewis, the other man sentenced for Hani’s murder, admitted their intent: to provoke a race war and derail a negotiation process that would inevitably lead to the end of white minority rule.
Answer:
An Easter weekend break in South Africa’s talks to end white minority rule was shattered by the news that Thembisile Chris Hani had been murdered – shot down at point-blank range outside his home, in front of his 15-year-old daughter Nomakhwezi.
The country was shaken to its core. The hugely popular South African Communist Party leader, who had also commanded the African National Congress’ army, Umkhonto weSizwe, was no more.
It was not the first time that brutal acts of violence had rocked the negotiations at Johannesburg’s World Trade Centre. They broke up in June 1992 when 45 people were killed in what became known as the Boipatong Massacre and did not resume until after the Bisho Massacre on 7 September that year. In that case 29 people died and more than 200 were injured when Ciskei soldiers opened fire on protesters calling for democratic reforms. Led by Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete and Ronnie Kasrils, around 80 000 people attempted to cross Ciskei Defence Force lines from Transkei to enter Bisho when the shooting started.