The judge found that Luthuli died from injuries consistent with assault.
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) High Court in Pietermaritzburg has ruled that the death of ANC stalwart chief Albert Luthuli was a murder, overturning the decades-old finding that it was an accident.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday following closing arguments heard two weeks earlier.
The inquest had been reopened in April this year by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Luthuli died on 21 July 1967 at the age of 58.
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The initial inquest at the time found his death to have been accidental.
According to that ruling, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was hit by a freight train while crossing the Umvoti River railway bridge, sustaining fatal injuries including a skull fracture, brain contusion and cerebral haemorrhage.
The Stanger Magistrate’s Court concluded that there was no evidence of criminal culpability on the part of any South African Railways personnel or any other individual.
Albert Luthuli inquest judgment
Judge Nompumelelo Radebe observed that Luthuli’s family had long rejected the conclusions reached by magistrate CI Boswell during the original 1967 inquest, arguing that the investigation failed to properly explore the real circumstances surrounding his death.
“To them, Luthuli’s death was a well-orchestrated plan to eliminate him,” the judge said.
Evidence presented in the reopened inquiry revealed that Boswell had on 4 August 1967 drafted a letter that appeared to predict the outcome of the inquest before any testimony had been heard.
In light of this, Radebe overturned Boswell’s earlier ruling.
“As to the cause or the likely cause of death, it is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and contusion of the brain associated with an assault,” the judgment says.
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She further concluded that Luthuli’s death was “attributable to cumulative acts and omissions” by members of the apartheid-era security branch, working in concert with employees of the South African Railways.
Radebe identified several individuals, including train driver Stephanus Albertus Lategan, train fireman Daniel Greyling, train conductor Pieter van Wyk, and detective sergeant Charles Barend Petrus Lewis, among others – most of whose whereabouts remain unknown.
She found that they had committed crimes of defeating the ends of justice, perjury and being accessories after the fact to murder.
The judge also recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) conduct a full investigation into the kidnapping and disappearance of Mbhemu Myandu, a young boy who allegedly witnessed Luthuli’s death.
Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi welcomed the judgment.
“The Pietermaritzburg High Court overturned the original ruling of death by accident in the reopened inquest of Luthuli, who had been assaulted as a result of which he died. Great work by NPA team,” she posted on X.
Luthuli’s background
Born in 1898, Luthuli emerged as a prominent leader in South Africa’s political and social landscape.
His rise began in 1937, when he was elected chief of the Zulu community in Groutville, KZN.
In 1944 he joined the ANC, where his vision and integrity saw him become the party’s president.
His lifelong commitment to peaceful resistance earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 – the first ever awarded to an African.
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