The South African government has announced a fresh inquest into the death of Chief Albert Luthuli, the nation’s first Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a prominent anti-apartheid leader whose death in 1967 has long been shrouded in mystery.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola announced the latest move on Tuesday, a development that reopens a case that many believe was falsely reported as an accident by the then white-minority government. Luthuli, who led the African National Congress during its ban, was officially reported to have died after being hit by a train near his home. However, suspicions that the apartheid regime was involved in his death have persisted, with activists and Luthuli’s family questioning the credibility of the initial inquest. The ANC leader was under an order restricting his movement at the time of his death. Lamola said in a statement that the previous inquest, which was done in 1967, “did not consider certain mathematical and scientific principles.”
“This mathematical and scientific report reveal that it is highly unlikely that Chief Luthuli was struck by a train and died because of that,” the minister said. He noted that considering this information and the investigation done by the Truth and Reconciliation Unit of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, he has accepted and agreed “that it is necessary and in the interest of justice to approach the Judge President of High Court of South Africa in the KwaZulu-Natal Division to re-open the inquest into the death of Chief Albert Luthuli.” The timing of the announcement is significant, coming decades after the end of apartheid and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which investigated the era’s crimes. Lamola also announced new inquests into the deaths of two other prominent anti-apartheid activists – Griffiths Mxenge and Booi Mantyi. Mxenge was killed by a hit squad of the regime, while Mantyi died during an alleged altercation with the apartheid regime’s police force in 1985. Lamola’s statement emphasized that “the interest of justice can never be bound by time,” signalling a commitment to uncovering the truth behind the deaths of the three men.
JN/APA