April 9, 2008 – We at the Nelson Mandela Foundation join the rest of our nation in honouring the memory of the late Martin Thembisile “Chris” Hani who was gunned down outside his home 15 years ago.
Chris Hani.
(Image: SACP)Young and energetic, Chris Hani had a bright future in the post-apartheid South Africa he was helping to build. But this future ended on the morning of 10 April 1993 when at the age of 50, he was shot and killed by a right-wing immigrant. Thanks to a quick-thinking neighbour the assailant was soon arrested.
On that tragic Easter Saturday Nelson Mandela calmed a shocked and angry nation in a live address on national television in which he appealed to reason, reconciliation and justice which were to become the hallmarks of his Presidency.
“Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. A white man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that our whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice, this assassin.”
As he spoke, our country faced what Mr Mandela called “a watershed moment”. We were so close to attaining the democracy that so many, like Chris Hani, had fought and died for. Tensions were running high. We could have descended into the abyss of racist violence. We did not.
Our country will continue to be challenged in ways that will call on us to remember the ways Mr Mandela and his comrades responded to the numerous challenges they faced. Their vision and commitment to a future free of racism, which the late Chris Hani shared, is our vision too.
Mr Mandela has consistently appealed to individuals to do all they can to make our democracy work. His words at the opening of Cape Town’s Nobel Square on 14 December 2003 remain valid to this day:
“Perhaps we should call on all South Africans, in all walks of life … to find within their communities, localities or towns a concrete opportunity to reach out and make national reconciliation real … Make national reconciliation work in your own life.”