THE family members of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Inkosi Albert Luthuli, who was the ANC president general, are hoping that the reopening of an inquest on his death would help them to find closure, said his nephew Dennis Luthuli. 

Luthuli, whose father was the brother of Inkosi Luthuli, spoke to this reporter on Monday afternoon after the adjournment of the National Prosecuting Authority-led inquiry, which is presided over by Judge Qondeni Radebe. 

The inquiry, which the family requested through then KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu, was aimed at finding the truth behind Inkosi Luthuli’s death on July 21, 1967, which might be contrary to the outcome of the previous inquest held in the same year, which concluded that a train killed him. 

“The claim that he was hit by a train does not make sense as there is no one who can be hit by a train and only sustain head injuries and have not broken leg and broken ribs. 

“If this inquiry continues, it will help us get the correct version of what happened to him,” said Luthuli.

He said the family believed that the veteran of the liberation struggle and businessman was killed and then placed on the railway track to create the impression that he was hit by a train. He suspected that this was done to shield the killers who were believed to be linked to the apartheid security system.

“This inquest is important for us to get to the bottom of the truth as to what happened to our father,” said Luthuli.

When Inkosi Luthuli woke up on that fateful morning of the day he met his death it was believed that he would go on with his daily routine of waking up in the morning, go to his sugarcane field, go open the shop, back to the sugarcane field, and back to close the shop before heading back home. However, it remains unclear what time he was killed.  

The court heard that on the day, he was with a young woman and that some of his workers witnessed the incident, but none of them could be traced by the police officers who investigated for the preparation for the reopening of the inquest, which is underway.

The NPA believed that the police and justice system at the time lied about how Inkosi Luthuli died.

Former KwaZulu-Natal premier Sbu Ndebele said, “there is nothing hidden that can never be revealed”.

“At last, the truth is coming out, and there were questions that had been with us the past 58 years, but at least now everything is coming clear as to what happened. 

“With the evidence that is still going to come, more information is going to come to make it clear why this was done,” he said. 

Despite that Inkosi Luthuli’s death happened decades ago and the alleged perpetrators might be dead a long time ago, Ndebele said the truth was paramount. 

“The human life must be accounted for, but this was not just a human life, it is our president general,” said Ndebele. 

The inquest would resume this morning with NPA’s Advocate Siyabonga Ngcobo lead investigator, Colonel Johannes Mothle, who was among several police assigned to rebuild the case, with evidence.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za

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