JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A former right-wing politician who provided the gun used to kill black South African anti-apartheid hero Chris Hani in 1993 has died of lung cancer, media reported on Thursday (Nov 3).

Clive Derby-Lewis, 80, was released from prison last year on medical parole after serving 22 years in jail.

The former Conservative Party member of parliament was given a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder.

His accomplice, Polish immigrant Janusz Walus, who pulled the trigger, is still in prison after several parole applications.

Hani, a hugely popular leader of the Communist Party, was shot dead on April 10, 1993, one year before South Africa's first multi-racial elections.

The incident sparked protests in black townships and took the country to the brink of a race war.

Still in negotiations with the apartheid government over an election date, then-ANC president Nelson Mandela appeared on national television to appeal for calm.

Hani's family had opposed Derby-Lewis's early release, saying he had not shown remorse nor disclosed details about the killing.