Reopened Inquest Rules Albert Luthuli was Beaten to Death by Apartheid Police
New information surrounding the deaths of Chief Albert Luthuli, Griffiths Mxenge and Booyi Mantyi prompted the reopening of inquests in KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape High Courts in 2024.
Albert Luthuli received the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the anti-apartheid fight.
Cape Times/AFP via Getty Images
A reopened inquest into the death of Chief Albert Luthuli has found that apartheid police beat the anti-apartheid activist to death. A South African high court set aside the previous 1967 ruling that deemed Luthuli’s death as an accident. Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe also added that the apartheid police worked in concert with employees of the SA Railway Company in the murder.
Luthuli’s family welcomed the outcome of the inquest, stating that the new ruling now opens the path for those liable for the killing to be brought to justice.
In 2024, South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, acting on the recommendations from the National Prosecuting Authority, approached the judge presidents of the KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape divisions of the High Court to look into the deaths of Luthuli and two other prominent anti-apartheid activists and leaders, Griffiths Mxenge and Booi Mantyi.
Luthuli was a staunch figure in the fight against segregationist laws during the apartheid era and he was greatly persecuted for his stance. He was deposed as the chief of Groutville, banned from politics on several occasions, and unsuccessfully tried for treason. He served as president-general of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1952 until his death in July 1967. Luthuli also won the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for leading the anti-apartheid campaign.
The official report stated that he was hit by a train in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal, and an inquest held shortly after, by the Magistrates’ Court in Lower Tugela, did not indict South Africa Railways or anyone else of any culpable acts. In a media statement released by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the 1967 inquest did not consider certain mathematical and scientific principles.
“This mathematical and scientific report reveals that it is highly unlikely that Chief Luthuli was struck by a train and died because of that,” the statement read. With this new information, along with investigation done by the Truth and Reconciliation Unit of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, the judge president of the High Court in KwaZulu-Natal reopened the inquest into Chief Luthuli’s death.
The KZN High Court also reopened the inquest into the death of Mxenge, a civil rights lawyer and ANC member. In November 1981, Mxenge was found dead in Umlazi, with his body bearing over 40 laceration marks. After a 1983 inquest failed to identify his killers, members of the covert police death squad, Vlakplaas, admitted to abducting and gruesomely killing Mxenge.
Appearing in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in November 1996, former Vlakplass commander Dirk Coetzee testified about his involvement in the killing, and was granted amnesty for his crimes, despite protests by Mxenge’s family. The reopened inquest, according to the DOJ’s media statement last year, will take into account, “new evidence that certain critical information was not presented to the TRC and the initial inquest — although the perpetrators were clearly identified.”
In June 1985, Mantyi was killed by members of the South African Police, for allegedly throwing stones at police. An inquest held in De Aar shortly after the killing ruled that no one was responsible for his death. Now, an eyewitness who has not yet testified has been identified, forming the basis for the reopened inquest by the judge president of the High Court in Northern Cape.
“With these inquests, we open very real wounds which are more difficult to open 30 years into our democracy,” Lamola said in the statement. “But nonetheless, the interest of justice can be bound by time. The truth must prevail.”
Mixed reactions trailed the DOJ’s media statement when it was shared on X last year. While user Xola Nqola hoped that justice will be done, another user, Lerato Tsebe, is apprehensive about the timing of the announcement, perhaps as a move by ANC to curry some favor as its dominance flails two weeks to the general elections.
“This is just playing politics and buying time to get votes,” X user Victor Libele wrote in his reply, citing the amnesty granted to Mxenge’s killers. Meanwhile, user Totwe Sekgetho hopes, “the affected families will finally find closure.”
This story was updated on Friday, October 31 at 8:43 am EST, with information on the outcome of Luthuli's inquest.
