South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has ordered the reopening of inquests into the deaths of former African National Congress (ANC) leader Chief Albert Luthuli and prominent human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge.
The hearings, set to begin on Monday at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, aim to re-examine the circumstances surrounding their deaths, which have long been shrouded in controversy.
The NPA’s decision to reopen both cases follows the emergence of new evidence, which it believes could overturn the findings of the initial inquests.
The justice ministry has noted the importance of revisiting these cases in the interest of justice.
Luthuli, leader of the then-banned ANC, died in 1967 after reportedly being struck by a cargo train near his home in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal province.
An initial inquest ruled his death accidental, finding no evidence of criminal culpability.
However, Luthuli’s family and activists have consistently questioned the official account, suspecting foul play by apartheid authorities.
Luthuli, who was South Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1960 for his leadership in the fight against apartheid, was under severe restrictions at the time of his death, including a ban on political activities and movement beyond his residential area.
His grandson, Albert Mthunzi Luthuli, on Monday welcomed the reopening of the inquest.
“We believe the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] let many families of victims down by granting amnesty to apartheid murderers.”
The second inquest concerns Griffiths Mxenge, a renowned anti-apartheid lawyer brutally murdered in 1981 in Umlazi, south of Durban.
Mxenge was stabbed several times and his throat was slit.
An initial inquiry failed to identify his killers, but in 1990, Butana Almond Nofemela, a member of a covert apartheid-era hit squad, confessed to the murder.
Nofemela, along with Dirk Coetzee and David Tshikalange, was later found guilty but received amnesty from the TRC in 1997.
JN/APA