By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
In his explosive and meticulously researched new book, Who Really Killed Chris Hani?, former High Court judge and award-winning author Chris Nicholson argues that the accepted version of events tells only part of the story, and that the real architects of the killing may never have faced justice.
Nicholson is not an armchair commentator. A lifelong KwaZulu-Natal resident, he practised as a human rights lawyer during apartheid, representing victims of state repression before South Africa’s democratic transition.
His legal work earned national recognition and led to his appointment as a High Court judge in 1995, where he presided over high-profile and politically sensitive matters at a critical time in our country’s history.
Alongside his judicial career, Nicholson has built a formidable second reputation as an award-winning author, with eight books and a play to his name.
Two of his previous nonfiction works were nominated for the prestigious Alan Paton Award, and several of his titles, including investigations into apartheid-era crimes and power structures are regarded as essential reading for students of South African history.
In Who Really Killed Chris Hani?, Nicholson applies a judge’s eye for evidence and inconsistency to the 1993 assassination that pushed South Africa to the brink. While Janusz Waluś and Clive Derby-Lewis were convicted, Nicholson argues they were mere tools. The visible edge of a far wider and darker conspiracy.
Drawing on court records, intelligence material, investigative journalism and historical parallels, the book questions official narratives, revisits ignored leads and interrogates who truly benefited from Hani’s death.
The result is a compelling work of investigative history that reads with the pace of a thriller, yet carries the intellectual weight of a legal judgment.
Nicholson explores possible links to apartheid-era security forces, international intelligence interests, political rivalries and economic power, raising deeply uncomfortable questions about South Africa’s negotiated transition and the silences that still surround it.
More than three decades after the murder, Who Really Killed Chris Hani? arrives at a moment of renewed public debate about accountability, truth and unfinished justice.
For broadcasters, journalists and historians, Nicholson is a rare interview subject: a former High Court judge willing to publicly challenge the adequacy of the justice system itself and to argue that one of the country’s most traumatic political crimes remains unresolved.
The book is available now and can be purchased directly via Chris Nicholson’s official website: https://chrisnicholson.co.za or from Exclusive Books or Amazon.