1942 - 1993

Deputy Commander and Commissar of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), General Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP)

Chris Hani was a loved and respected commander of MK, armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), and a high-ranking ANC and SACP leader during South Africas transition to democracy in the early 1990s. His charismatic leadership united radical and moderate factions in the liberation movement and disarmed even his fiercest critics.

Hani turned towards Marxism while studying at the University of Fort Hare. He joined MK in 1961 and received military training in the Soviet Union before conducting underground MK operations from Lesotho and Zambia.

He co-wrote the Memorandum, a critique of the ANC that led to the watershed 1969 Morogoro conference in Tanzania. Under the leadership of Oliver Tambo, the ANC would chart an important new course based on a four-pronged strategy, combining the armed struggle, underground activity, mass mobilisation and international solidarity.

Hanis assassination outside his home on 10 April 1993 rocked the nation and came close to ending fragile political negotiations. The ANCs skillful management of the resultant political crisis prevented a civil war. His premature death is still believed to be one of the greatest political losses in South African history.

Did You Know?

MK cadres adopted new names when they went underground. Martin Thembisile Hani assumed the name of his deceased brother, Chris, in place of his birth name Martin, a name that stuck even after the ANC was unbanned in 1990.