Hani: A life too short

Chris Hani’s assassination in 1993 gave rise to one of South Africa’s great imponderables: if he had survived, what impact would he have had on politics and government in South Africa? More pointedly, could this charismatic leader have risen to become president of the country? Hani was a hero of South Africa’s liberation, a communist party leader and Umkhonto we Sizwe chief of staff who was both intellectual and fighter, a man who could inspire an army but carried a book of poetry in his backpack. Hani led MK into its earliest battles, and carved a formidable reputation as a thinker, debater and peacemaker. Hani: A Life Too Short tells the story of Hani’s life, from his childhood in rural Transkei and education at Fort Hare University to the controversial Memorandum of 1969, the crisis in the ANC camps in Angola in the 1980s and the heady dawn of freedom. Drawing on interviews and the recollections of those who knew him, this vividly written book provides a detailed account of the life of a great South African. Janet Smith is an executive editor of The Star and a special writer at Independent Newspapers, concentrating on socio-political stories, essays and profiles. She is the author of two award-winning novels for young South Africans and the co-author of a third prize-winning book for teenagers. A mother of three, she lives in Kensington, Johannesburg. Beauregard Tromp is a senior reporter at The Star newspaper in Johannesburg. He was awarded the Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Journalist of the Year in 2009 for his coverage of the xenophobic violence in Johannesburg in 2008. He is a previous Africa Correspondent and has travelled extensively throughout the continent covering the events which have helped shape Africa in the past decade.