2 weeks Ago By Coceka Magubeni
Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nompumelelo Radebe has ruled in favour of the reopening of the inquest into the death of ANC former president Chief Albert Luthuli.The death of Luthuli, who was the first African to be awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace, in 1967 had initially been described as accidental. (adsbygoogle = window.
adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Following his demise, an inquest ruled that Luthuli was walking on a railway line when he was struck by a train and died after fracturing his skull.On Monday, the National Prosecuting Authority informed the court that the Luthuli family did not accept the finding and had, for the past 58 years, expressed their dissatisfaction with the finding.
When Radebe ruled on the matter, they said they welcomed the reopening of the inquest.Luthuli, who at the time of his death was the leader of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC), won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 as a tribute to his nonviolent fight against racial prejudice.“Evidence will be presented to your ladyship that will reveal collusion between the security police, district surgeons, pathologists, and the magistrate who presided over the initial inquest on September 20, 1967,” stated prosecutor Ncedile Dunywa.
Family members, politicians and the public were in attendance as the state proceeded to call a witness.The first state witness, Godisamang Kgamanyane, took the stand and said he works on investigating cases, checking if justice was done.“In May 2019, I was given this matter to investigate about the death of Chief Albert Luthuli, who died when there was a train accident on July 21, 1967.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“This investigation started after the request of the premier at that time, which was received by the NPA and was sent to our office for investigation.
That is when we started working on it,” he said.He further said as part of his investigation, he attempted to trace the original criminal case docket pertaining to Chief Albert Luthuli at Stanger police station but was unable to get the docket.According to Kgamanyane, he went to the Luthuli Museum, where he was assisted by Brian Xaba, who works at the museum.
“From the museum I took one of his books, titled “Let My People Go” and I made copies from the book, and those are attached to the exhibits that I submitted. There is an exhibit that is marked as a rough sketch of the accident scene but there was no rough sketch that I noted.”The inquest has been postponed to Tuesday morning and will resume with a police officer’s testimony.
The Gauteng ANC said: “The ANC welcomes the reopening of the inquest into the death of Chief Albert Luthuli, Nobel Peace Laureate and President-General of our movement.“Banned, silenced, and surveilled by an apartheid regime that feared his vision of a united, non-racial South Africa, his 1967 death remains shrouded in suspicion. This is a step toward justice, exposing apartheid’s crimes and letting truth triumph over decades of lies,” said the party.
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