1. Chris Hani was a South African military commander, politician and revolutionary who served as the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress.
33 Facts About Chris Hani
1. 2.
Martin Thembisile Hani was born on 28 June 1942 in the Xhosa village in Cofimvaba, Transkei.
3.
Chris Hani's father Gilbert Hani was a mine union worker and political activist who left the country to go into exile in 1962 and returned to South Africa in 1991.
4.
Chris Hani's mother Mary Hani was a simple person who had never attended school.
5.
Chris Hani attended Lovedale school in 1957, to finish his last two years.
6.
Chris Hani twice finished two school grades in a single year.
7.
When Chris Hani 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.
8.
In Lovedale school, Chris Hani joined the ANC Youth League when he was 15 years old, even though political activities were not allowed at black schools under apartheid.
9.
Chris Hani was influenced to align with the ANC due to the activism of the party concerning mass struggles.
10.
Chris Hani mentioned writers such as Govan Mbeki who played a critical role in his political conversion.
11.
In 1959, at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape, Chris Hani studied English, Latin and modern and classical literature.
12.
In 1961, Chris Hani joined a communist party lead by Comrade Mbeki where he first started learning and reading about Marxism.
13.
Chris Hani credited his commitment to the MK as a result of his exposure to the extreme side of apartheid during his upbringing.
14.
Chris Hani received military training in the Soviet Union and served in campaigns in the Zimbabwean War of Liberation, called the Rhodesian Bush War.
15.
Chris Hani's role as a fighter from the earliest days of MK's exile was an important part in the fierce loyalty that Hani later enjoyed in some quarters as MK's Deputy Commander.
16.
In 1969, Chris Hani co-signed, with six others, the "Chris Hani Memorandum", which was strongly critical of the leadership of Joe Modise, Moses Kotane and other comrades in the leadership.
17.
Chris Hani saw the overreliance on diplomatic negotations inefficient and was critical of the separation between the leaders of the ANC and the fighters of the MK.
18.
In Lesotho, Chris Hani organised guerrilla operations of the MK in South Africa.
19.
Many MK female operatives, such as Dipuo Mvelase, adored Chris Hani for having protected women's rights and caring about their wellbeing at military camps.
20.
Chris Hani supported the suspension of the ANC's armed struggle in favour of negotiations, as well as including a multi-party political system.
21.
Chris Hani put great effort in advocating for a socialist economy.
22.
Social redistribution as well as protecting labor rights were central in Chris Hani's push to improve the South African economy post apartheid.
23.
Chris Hani was assassinated on 10 April 1993 outside his home in Dawn Park, a racially mixed suburb of Boksburg.
24.
Chris Hani was accosted by a Polish far-right anti-communist immigrant named Janusz Walus, who shot him as he stepped out of his car.
25.
The cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani has sent shock waves throughout the country and the world.
26.
Chris Hani's killers appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, claiming political motivation for their crimes and applying for amnesty on the basis that they had acted on the orders of the Conservative Party.
27.
The Chris Hani family was represented by the anti-apartheid lawyer George Bizos.
28.
Chris Hani's assassination has attracted numerous conspiracy theories about outside involvement.
29.
The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said it "was unable to find evidence that the two murderers convicted of the killing of Chris Hani took orders from international groups, security forces or from higher up in the right-wing echelons".
30.
Chris Hani was a charismatic leader, with significant support among the radical anti-apartheid youth.
31.
Chris Hani played a critical role in deepening the alliance between the SCAP, ANC and Congress of South African Trade Unions.
32.
Chris Hani became a global figure for anti apartheid and resistance movements around the world.
33.
In September 2004, Chris Hani was voted 20th in the controversial Top 100 Greatest South Africans poll.