After a recent trip to Exclusive Books I impulsively picked up a copy of "Hani – A Life Too Short".

We didn't live too far from where Chris Hani was shot, and his burial at South Park Cemetery was literally down the road from us. I remember the panic my folks felt as the news reported that thousands of 'blacks' would descend upon our little dorp for his funeral – we packed our car with our most beloved possessions and headed off to some family for the day, fearing our house would be flattened by an incensed mob. Nevertheless, bar a few beer bottles strewn in the streets, our house remained.

So, Chris Hani is a figure from my past that I'm eager to learn about.

There's a paragraph early on in the book that struck me. It is from when Hani graduated from Fort Hare University with his BA:

… at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, where Fort Hare traditionally held its final ceremony … [Hani's parent's] were prohibited from attending the white university's celebration. At the end of the graduation ceremony, the audience broke into 'Die Stem', and, immediately afterwards, the Fort Hare students crushed the echo of their oppression with 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrikca'. Hani's voice would have been among the loudest.

Who would have thought? Our now current national anthem, the perfect blend between Die Stem and Nkosi Sikelel, was sung as far back as 1960.

It brings new meaning to when it is sung now.