27-05-2025
Government regarded Chief Luthuli as a terrorist, says Albertina Luthuli
The reopened inquest into the death of ANC president-general Chief Albert Luthuli heard evidence that the apartheid government regarded Luthuli as a terrorist.
This evidence came from his daughter Dr Albertina Nomathuli Luthuli, 93, when testifying in the Pietermaritzburg high court on Monday.
Albertina, a medical doctor, said there were many geopolitical events before her father died in 1967. There was condemnation from the apartheid regime in 1960 when her father received the Nobel peace prize.
'The apartheid regime was not happy that my father was given a Nobel peace prize, they even condemned the Nobel peace prize committee saying it has lost its credibility by awarding a prestigious prize to a terrorist,' she said.
State prosecutor adv Annah Chuene asked Albertina why her father was regarded as a terrorist.
She said many banning orders were meted out against him but he was 'able to evade them'.
Albertina also told the court that the apartheid regime was against the move by former US president John F Kennedy while still a senator to visit her father in Groutville in 1961.
'Kennedy visited the apartheid government in Pretoria and he also wanted to visit my father but the government of the day denied [his request]. Kennedy forced his visit to my father which angered the apartheid regime,' she said.
Albertina said all these developments made her father enemy number one of the state. 'So the apartheid regime had no choice but to remove my father,' she said.
She also disputed evidence presented in the initial inquest in 1967, that Luthuli was partially deaf and blind. Though her father once had an operation in one of his eyes, his vision was clear, she said, adding that he could also hear properly.
She said her family strongly believe he was murdered as opposed to having been struck by a train. She added the family hopes the reopened inquest will bring closure on the matter.
The inquest continues.
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