Hani, Martin Thembisile

▪ 1994

      ("CHRIS"), South African political activist (b. June 28, 1942, Cofimvaba, South Africa—d. April 10, 1993, Boksburg, South Africa), was secretary-general (1991-93) of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff (1987-91) of Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"), the military wing of the black-nationalist African National Congress (ANC). Hani, whose father was a migrant worker and ANC member, joined the ANC Youth League in 1957. He studied Latin and Classics at Fort Hare University (1959-61) and Rhodes University (B.A., 1962), considered entering the priesthood, and briefly prepared for a legal career, but his involvement in Umkhonto and the SACP (both from 1962) soon took precedence. He underwent military training, fought with black nationalists in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and directed guerrilla operations against South Africa from Lesotho and Zambia. Hani was elected to the ANC executive council in 1974 and was named deputy commander of Umkhonto in 1982. He officially resigned as Umkhonto chief of staff in 1991, when he succeeded Joe Slovo as SACP secretary-general. Hani was foremost among the so-called Young Lions, ANC members who endorsed using violence against civilian targets, as opposed to the somewhat more moderate tactics of older leaders, such as Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo (q.v.). After the ban on the ANC was lifted in 1990, however, he participated in the negotiations for a peaceful transfer to majority rule. Hani, who had survived previous assassination attempts, was gunned down outside his home in a quiet, racially integrated suburb outside Johannesburg.

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