Lindiwe Hani

Lindiwe Hani

On 10th April 1993 Chris Hani was murdered. His assassination threatened to tip South Africa over the precipice into a bloodbath. Nelson Mandela’s statesmanlike TV intervention, appealing for calm, saved SA. The perpetrators of the murder were behind bars within a week, leaving in their bloody wake a family so devastated that it has taken nearly a quarter of a century to heal and come together again.

That alone might make the book “Being Chris Hani’s Daughter, by Lindiwe Hani and Melinda Ferguson” a must-read. But Lindiwe Hani’s courageous determination to meet her father’s killers, chronicled evocatively and at times amusingly, is alluring. She also provides a fascinating peep into Chris’s warm and relaxed parenting.

Meeting the tiny, perfectly proportioned and witty personality makes it clear that the book’s comical remarks are not the result of clever wordsmithing. She and publisher-author Melinda Ferguson took turns in writing the book. Now you have the chance to hear this, at times, heart-wrenching story from the last-born daughter of one of South Africa’s real heroes – and a legend whose life was cut short at just 36! One year younger than Lindiwe is today (2017).

Lindiwe Hani describes her years of addiction honestly and forthrightly without sparing herself. They were fuelled by a lack of confidence, the loss of her exuberant, extrovert personality, a life-altering decision about her first child, the loss of her first real love and her sister.

Today, Hani looks forward to completing her degree and her other future plans.

Today, Hani is at peace with her family, bound to them by their love for Khaya. She has spent a lifetime being introduced as “Chris Hani’s daughter – often my own name is not mentioned” and has finally emerged from his magnificent shadow.”

courtesy of Sue Marshall’s REVIEW on  “Being Chris Hani’s Daughter”.