National 2.6.2015 11:00 am
Ngwako Modjadji
Clive Derby-Lewis. Picture: Supplied.
The SA Communist Party (SACP) has accused the country's courts of having become "apologists" for white racists.
This follows Clive Derby-Lewis being granted medical parole by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last week.
"The court can make many mistakes. This is one of them. It is saddening that the court is embracing this venom against the democratic values," SACP second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said yesterday.
Mapaila said white people perpetuated injustice while "we fought for justice".
He reiterated that Derby-Lewis, 79, belongs in prison because he had not told the truth. Mapaila said the SACP was exploring its options on the matter.
Derby-Lewis, the mastermind behind the April 1993 assassination of SACP leader Chris Hani, and hitman Janusz Walus, who pulled the trigger, were convicted of the murder in 1995.
Hani was shot dead outside his home in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, in 1993.
In his ruling, Judge Selby Baqwa said he had received lengthy submissions from Justice Minister Michael Masutha and Roelof du Plessis, a lawyer for Derby-Lewis.
"Everyone has the right to die with dignity," Baqwa said.
But Derby-Lewis, who is suffering from lung cancer, will have to wait until Friday to know if he will be released from prison.
He is currently receiving treatment at the Eugene Marais Hospital, north of Pretoria.
Masutha's spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said: "Once parole conditions have been prepared and given to him, it's only then we can release him."
This, amid speculation Derby-Lewis was awaiting his parole conditions while being at home having already been released.
Mhaga said a decision on whether to appeal the judgment or not will be made soon.
Derby-Lewis' wife Gaye declined to comment, saying she disagreed with reports that had branded Derby-Lewis a "killer".
Derby-Lewis was repeatedly denied medical parole since he began his battle to go home several years ago. Last year, the Medical Parole Board recommended Derby-Lewis be considered for medical parole but this was denied.
http://citizen.co.za/395116/sacp-against-derby-lewis-parole/