Polish immigrant Janusz Walusz will remain behind bars for now after the Supreme Court of Appeal effectively ruled in favour of the Department of Justice and Corrections which last year denied him parole.
Walusz has been in jail for the past 24 years for his role in the murder of SACP leader, Chris Hani.
On Friday, the Appeals Court overturned a North Gauteng High Court ruling that the Department of Justice and Correctional Services had erred in law in denying Walusz parole saying it was not rational.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Michael Masutha, said "we have been consistent in saying that we will always take into account the views of the victim in considering a parole application.”
“It's something that we have been consistent about and this has been the case here that because we did not have the victim's statement at the time that also indicated that even if we had it, based on the facts that were before us at the time, we didn't see any basis on why we should have granted parole," he told Algoa FM News.
Minister Masutha said the Appeal's court had given him three months to review the initial decision.
"The court has now ruled that we need to revisit our decision and in doing so take into account of the victim impact statement and any reaction from the side of the offender. Then make a fresh decision which we intend to do in the three months that the court has granted us," Masutha said.
Walusz's accomplice and former right-wing MP, Clive Derby-Lewis, died last year after a long battle with lung cancer.
Derby-Lewis was released on medical parole in 2015 after doctors diagnosed him with stage four cancer.
He died at the age of 80 in hospital in November last year.
