Special Report Transcript Episode 53, Section 5, Time 23:30

Chris Hani, son of a Transkei migrant worker, Fort Hare University graduate at 19, a man who spoke with passion about both Shakespeare and socialism, a man whose coming of age at 21 involved skipping the country to join the exiled ANC. One of the very first to respond to the ANC’s call to arms in the early sixties, Chris Hani, the only young leader who could persuade the ANC’s armed mutineers in Angola to surrender and talk about their grievances, who at great risk constantly slipped in and out of South Africa in order to recruit and train eager young recruits. When he returned home in 1990 after 27 years Chris Hani was seen as both savior and Satan. For the National Party government he was still public enemy number one. // ‘… and I find myself making a long speech. You will pardon me because I think I’m overwhelmed by my coming back. I was born here, I grew up here, I was born in Cofimvaba, I love it…’ // For the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party he’d become a rising star, a fiery leader, both as intellectual and fighter. By the time of his death popular opinion ranked Chris Hani a second only to Nelson Mandela. His assassination on the 10 of April 1993 came as a shock to most.

Notes: Hani’s return; Chris Hani (Transkei visit, 28 June 1990); SACP rally, CT; Scene of assassination, people gathering outside Hani home

References: there are no references for this transcript