Latest news with #Luthuli
IOL News
19 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Albert Luthuli's reinstatement as Inkosi of Umvoti Mission Reserve on the agenda in KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
A reopened inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli's death on July 21, 1967, is being held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Luthuli's reinstatement as Inkosi of Umvoti Mission Reserve could be discussed at the next sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. Image: Independent Media Archives Inkosi Albert Luthuli's reinstatement as Inkosi of Umvoti Mission Reserve could be discussed at the next sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. A request from the Luthuli family for his reinstatement was tabled at the legislature by the MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma, on Thursday. Chief Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, and other ANC leaders planned many actions, notably the Defiance Campaign of 1952, to demonstrate their opposition to apartheid legislation in existence at the time. He was deemed a terrorist by the then-government, and his appointment as chief was terminated. After losing his title, he was subjected to a series of banning orders, which eventually limited his movements to Groutville, where he could only be in the company of one person at a time, except his immediate family members. Despite the revocation of his title by the then-government, he was nevertheless referred to as Chief Luthuli by local and foreign populations alike. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) re-opened the inquests into the deaths of Luthuli and Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge. It was revealed in the original 1967 inquest that Luthuli walked on the Mvoti River railway bridge and was hit by an oncoming train moving at a speed of 40 km/h. However, recent testimonies before the Pietermaritzburg High Court from a hospital staff member and people known to Luthuli painted a different picture. Duma said that testimony given at an investigation into Luthuli's death revealed that he was assassinated by the apartheid government. Testimonies given in court indicate that Luthuli was physically assaulted and died of his injuries in Stanger Hospital. Still alive and semi-conscious, he was transported to the hospital with bruises on his arms and hands, a broken rib, and a gash on the back of his head. The court also heard that an eyewitness was allegedly taken away by police a few days later to an unidentified police station to state what he saw, but he disappeared, and his family never saw him again. "They feared him and worried about his influence. They described Luthuli as a terrorist and revoked his appointment as Inkosi. I also salute President Cyril Ramaphosa for his bold leadership and determination to ensure that the Luthuli family and the people of this country know the truth. I welcome the dedication and efficiency displayed by the National Prosecuting Authority in terms of exposing the perpetrators of this gruesome act," Duma said. Luthuli was born in 1898. He rose to prominence in 1937, when the then-Department of Native Affairs nominated him as Chief of the Zulu people in Groutville. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC), ultimately becoming its president general. In 1960, Chief Luthuli received the renowned Nobel Peace Prize. He continued to fight for equal rights for all races in South Africa through speeches and writings until his tragic death on July 21, 1967. In 1981, Mxenge was returning home from his legal office in the Durban central business district when he was kidnapped, brutally murdered, and his body found on a sports field in Umlazi, south of Durban. Both inquests are under way in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. [email protected]
TimesLIVE
27-05-2025
- TimesLIVE
Luthuli had a hideout beneath his home, daughter tells inquest
The reopened inquest into the death of ANC president-general chief Albert Luthuli heard evidence he had a hideout underneath his Groutville home. Luthuli used this secret place to hide from members of the apartheid police unit's special branch. This evidence came from his daughter Dr Albertina Luthuli, 93, during the second day of her testifying in the Pietermaritzburg high court on Wednesday. She told the court the hideout was also used to keep his important documents. 'Members of the special branch would just come and search the house, not knowing that there is a secret place underneath it,' she said. Albertina said the members would come to their home almost every night during supper. 'They would come, ransack the house, they would go even to my father's bedroom and turn his bed upside-down,' she said, adding that the members of the special branch would not tell the family what they were looking for. Albertina told the court her mother Nokukhanya Luthuli always thought her husband would be killed one day. 'One day, my mother told baba (my father) that it would be easy for his enemies to kill him because they knew his day-to-day routine,' she said. Her father would wake up, do his chores, go to his shop, then the sugar cane fields and then go back to his house. 'Even my father was aware one day he would be killed, but as a deep Christian he was not afraid to die, especially for the cause of liberating people,' she said. Albertina said due to safety concerns her mother tasked a Mr Mabaso, who worked for her father on his farm, to act as his bodyguard. Prosecutor Adv Annah Chuene asked Albertina if Mabaso was with her father on July 21 1967, the day he died. Albertina said she was not sure, but from her understanding he was supposed to be with him. The initial inquest conducted in 1967 concluded Luthuli died after he was struck by a goods train, a claim his family is disputing. The inquest continues on Wednesday.
TimesLIVE
26-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
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.
IOL News
21-05-2025
- IOL News
Albert Luthuli's funeral a powerful symbol of defiance against apartheid
A reopened inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli's death on July 21, 1967, is being held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Image: Independent Media Archives Pictures of Inkosi Albert Luthuli's body lying emotionless in a coffin during his funeral on July 30, 1967, depicted nothing of a person hit by a train, as it had no dismembered limbs or facial scars, the inquest held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard. Luthuli, a staunch Christian and prayer warrior, was buried eight days after his death on July 21, the same year. His funeral, attended by scores of people from various racial groups, was held at the Groutville Congregational Church Graveyard. The pictures of his body dressed in a black suit and tie in the coffin were shown on a big screen in the courtroom on Monday during the ongoing reopened inquest. They were another piece of evidence to reject the 1967 findings that he was killed by injuries sustained from being hit by a steam goods train that was running at 40km/h. 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Next Stay Close ✕ Testifying on Tuesday, Thulani Thusi, a heritage educator at the museum named after the iconic ANC president-general and Nobel Peace Prize winner, concurred with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)'s evidence leader, Advocate Annah Chuene, that the elderly man's body appeared intact. 'I see an individual in a casket or a coffin whose body is intact, in other words, there are no missing limbs or any body parts from what I am seeing. Are you seeing the same thing? 'Looking at the facial features of the individual whom you say is Chief Albert Luthuli, on his face, there are no available scars from what I can see on the screen. Is that what you also see?' Chuene asked, to which Thusi responded, 'That is correct, my Lady'. According to evidence accepted by the initial inquest held on September 21, 1967, Luthuli met with the accident at the Mvoti railway bridge at Groutville village in Stanger, the north coast, in the morning. He died at the Stanger Provincial Hospital in the afternoon. It was revealed that before the accident, on that fateful morning, he woke up to take his normal daily routine of going to open his general deal shop, and proceeded to his sugar cane fields using the same route he always used, which was to cross the bridge. Police officers and a medical expert who testified in the current inquest said it was a fallacy that Luthuli died as a result of the train accident. Instead, they presented documented medical evidence that the injuries indicated that he had been attacked and assaulted until he lost consciousness. According to KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health's senior forensic pathologist, Dr Sibusiso Johannes Nsele, who testified last week about his findings after reinvestigating medical reports, Luthuli's injuries on his arms indicated that he was trying to protect himself from his attackers. Nsele believed that during the assault with a blunt object, Luthuli lost consciousness, which might have led the attackers to believe that he was dead. They then carried him to the bridge to create a false impression that he had been hit by the train. In his sworn statement, Thusi said one of the newspapers, which covered the funeral that was held on a Sunday, described the event as 'a theatre for defiance and political dynamism' because of its unusual attendance under the situation created by the apartheid regime. According to the Albert Luthuli Timeline published on the University of Pretoria website, his funeral was attended by over 7 000 people and 'was the first major public gathering since the ANC's banning in 1960'. Describing the funeral, Thusi said the articles that were produced after the funeral reflected what happened at that event. 'This was a day that brought multiracial groups to the funeral of Chief Luthuli,' said Thusi. He said, according to the archives and people who attended the funeral, the funeral was under the watchful eye of the police and special branch members. The NPA's aim of reopening the inquest into Luthuli's death was to provide evidence that would expose collusion between the security police, district surgeons, pathologists, prosecutors, and magistrate CI Boswell, who presided over the initial inquest, in covering up the killing and protecting the killers from being held accountable. Meanwhile, the reopened inquest was initially scheduled to run between April 14 and May 16, but its completion was delayed due to postponements as a result of court officials, including presiding Judge Qondeni Radebe, having to deal with other work-related commitments. The matter was on Tuesday postponed to Wednesday because the next witness to give evidence did not show up in court. It remained unclear when these hearings would be completed. Cape Times
TimesLIVE
20-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Luthuli inquest to be extended to June to hear more witnesses
Prosecutors in the reopened inquest into the death of ANC president-general chief Albert Luthuli in the Pietermaritzburg high court have asked for an extension of the matter to call more witnesses. The National Prosecuting Authority reopened inquests into the deaths of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Luthuli and anti-apartheid lawyer Griffiths Mxenge last month. Luthuli's inquest, which started on April 14, was due to finish on May 16 but has been extended to June for further evidence. Luthuli, who joined the ANC in 1944 and later became the president-general of the organisation, died on July 21 1967. It was widely reported he died soon after being struck by a goods train. An inquest held in September 1967 found there was no evidence which disclosed any criminal culpability on the part of any employees of the South African Railways or anyone else. Advocate Annah Chuene said the state intended to call more witnesses, but didn't elaborate on who they were. On Tuesday the inquest did not sit due to the unavailability of a witness scheduled to testify. Chuene asked for an adjournment until Wednesday. On Monday the inquest heard the evidence of Thulani Stanley Thusi, a heritage educator at Luthuli Museum in Groutville. Thusi told the inquest about the proceedings of Luthuli's funeral as he was taking pictures for archival purposes. He said some struggle heroes at Luthuli's funeral were later killed, but didn't provide further details. The reopened inquest has heard evidence from a number of witnesses including police, locomotive experts and KwaZulu-Natal chief pathologist Dr Sibusiso Ntsele. Most of them gave evidence that contradicted the 1967 inquest which concluded Luthuli died after he was struck by a train. Locomotive expert Lesley Charles Labuschagne said Luthuli was assaulted and his body taken to a railway track so it would look like he was hit by a train. Labuschagne's evidence was supported by Ntsele who said Luthuli had defensive wounds. Ntsele also said the postmortem report conducted in 1967 was substandard. The postmortem was done in a hurry while his body was still warm. The inquest for Mxenge was postponed to June for witness preparation. Prosecutor Siyabonga Ngcobo called for the matter to be postponed to give witnesses time to prepare for the hearing. Ngcobo said they have subpoenaed several witnesses, including Vlakplaas askari assassin Joe Mamasela to testify.
