He served 28 yrs in prison, but he didn’t tell us “who hired him to kill Chris Hani” White people have already started celebrating their victory against the ANC.
Janusz Walus had committed a "very serious crime", but he was entitled to parole, the court ruled.
Hani's widow Limpho condemned the ruling as "truly diabolical".
She and the government had vigorously resisted attempts by Walus, 69, to gain his freedom after almost three decades in prison.Walus killed Hani in a failed attempt to derail South Africa's transition from white-minority rule to democratic rule.
In his ruling on behalf of the Constitutional Court, Chief Justice Ray Zondo said Walus had nearly plunged South Africa into a civil war after carrying out a "cold-blooded murder".
But Justice Minister Ronald Lamola's refusal to grant him parole was "irrational" and he should be released within 10 days, the chief justice said.
He added that "the principle of equality before the law was not just written for those who fought apartheid - but [also for] those who actively supported it", local media report.
Justice services ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri said "a decision has been made by the court, we will have to consider it and apply it", AFP news agency reports.
Walus killed Hani as he picked up the newspapers outside his home in April 1993 by shooting him at point-blank range in the chin, behind the ear and in the chest.
He was arrested and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life after South Africa abolished the death penalty at the end of apartheid, a legalised system of racial discrimination, in 1994.
Hani's murder still evokes deep emotions in South Africa. He was regarded as the most popular politician after South Africa's first black President Nelson Mandela, and his death caused much shock and anger.
He was the leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP), and a senior member of the military wing of the African National Congress, the former liberation movement which is now in power.
Walus's co-conspirator in the murder, Clive Derby-Lewis, was released on parole in June 2015.
Derby-Lewis had given Walus the gun used to kill Hani. He died in 2016 aged 80.
Walus is a Polish immigrant whose South African citizenship was revoked in 2017. Some have called for his deportation.
In a statement, the SACP said Hani's murder had "left a gaping wound in his family, the SACP and the ranks of the working class".
"The judgment has rubbed salt granules to the wound," it added.
While in prison, Walus became a symbol for young Polish nationalists and fascists.
Huge banners bearing his portrait were often draped around football stadiums in Poland in 2020 to demand his release. Limpho Hani, the wife of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani who was gunned down nearly 30 years ago, blasted Chief Justice Raymond Zondo following his ruling in the Constitutional Court to release her husband's killer on parole.
In his ruling on Monday afternoon, Zondo ordered the release of Janusz Walus on parole within 10 days.
He said Walus had apologised to the family on several occasions.
Lamola was ordered to pay Walus' costs.
The ruling has left the Hani family fuming, with an angry Limpho storming out of court after the verdict.
"This court has not even addressed the victims. I don't exist. He is busy giving us a lecture about a Polish man who came to SA to kill my husband. Do you understand how I feel?" Limpho asked.
"Chief Justice [Raymond] Zondo has failed this country completely, and I am not going to apologise. This country is finished. In this country, a foreign white can come into South Africa and kill my husband. He [Zondo] couldn't give a shit. He couldn't be bothered," she said.
Limpho described the judgment as "diabolical".
"I have never seen something like this in my life. If my husband was not killed, we would have never had elections. Mandela, after my husband was murdered, said to [FW] de Klerk for us to stop this, give us an election date. That is why Zondo and his friends today are sitting in this court."
The Polish immigrant is serving a life sentence at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Facility for the murder of the anti-apartheid activist in 1993.
Walus, who became eligible for parole almost 17 years ago, after serving 13 years and four months of his life sentence, had been applying for parole since 2011 - and had been denied parole every time.
He was initially sentenced to death for the Hani's murder, but his death sentence was commuted to life behind bars.
Zondo said in his judgment that Walus had kept a clean record while serving more than 25 years of his life sentence, and had also complied with every requirement the prison authorities had told him he should abide by.
"In the circumstances, I am of the view that it is just and equitable that this court should order the minister to place the applicant on parole."
In making his decision, Zondo said the court was mindful of the fact that, in assassinating Hani, Walus sought to derail the attainment of democracy and nearly plunged the country into a civil war.
"However, I have also borne in mind that, when the fathers and mothers of our constitutional democracy drafted our Constitution and included in it the Bill of Rights, they did not draft a Bill of Rights that would confer fundamental rights only on those who fought for democracy and not on those who had supported apartheid or who were opposed to the introduction of democracy in this country.
"They drafted a Bill of Rights that conferred fundamental rights on everyone, including those who had supported apartheid with all their hearts."
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