Former ANC President’s death ruled an apartheid-era murder

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court has ruled that the death of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) former President, Chief Albert Luthuli, was murder.

The court overturned an apartheid-era inquest, which alleged that Luthuli was hit by a goods train. 

It was confirmed through oral and documentary evidence that these findings were incorrect and that Luthuli was beaten to death by police in 1967.

“The ruling of the Magistrate CI Boswell, dated September 1967 at the Stanger Magistrates Court, is set aside,” said Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe.

“As to the likely cause of death, it is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and concussion of the brain associated with assault.”

None of the perpetrators will face punishment for the crime, Hadebe continued, as the suspects have either died or cannot be found. 

The ANC welcomed the court’s judgment, as a “correction to a long-standing distortion of history.”

Luthuli was a teacher, traditional leader and freedom fighter. He was President of the ANC from 1952 to 1967. 

“He led the movement during one of its most difficult and defining times,” the AMC said. Luthuli was the leader of the party in the drafting of the Freedom Charter and the banning of the ANC.

He became the first African recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his non-violent resistance against apartheid. 

“This judgment reaffirms what the ANC has always known: that Chief Luthuli was a victim of state-sanctioned murder.

“It’s a moral victory, not only for his family but for all the martyrs of our struggle whose lives were cut short by the cruelty of apartheid,” the party said. 

Luthuli family spokesperson Sandile Luthuli told Eyewitness News that this is the first part of the family finally getting justice. 

“More than that, it ascribes liability to certain persons who, through their acts and omissions, became complicit in the cover-up of the death of Chief Albert Luthuli.”

The original inquest ruled that Luthuli was walking on a railway line when he was struck by a train, fracturing his skull.

“The inquest found no evidence which disclosed any criminal culpability on the part of any of the employees of the South African Railways or anyone else,” according to the presentation of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).