Author: Sean Jacobs

Chris Hani should not be made into an ideal type or used to settle political scores in the present. Chris Hani The American political scientist Adolph Reed Jnr. once wrote about Malcolm X that “… he was just like the rest of us—a regular person saddled with imperfect knowledge, human frailties, and conflicting imperatives, but nonetheless trying to make sense of his very specific history, trying unsuccessfully to transcend it, and struggling to push it in a humane direction.” Like Malcolm X, Chris Hani–who was also assassinated (Hani was murdered by a white right-winger on this day in 1993)– should not be made into an ideal type or used to settle political scores in the present. Yet, any observer of contemporary South Africa can’t help noticing that while Chris Hani is still lion...