A South African court is set to reopen an inquest into the death of Chief Albert Luthuli, a renowned anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Luthuli’s death was initially ruled as accidental, with a 1967 inquest concluding he was struck by a train while walking on a railway line.
However, activists and his family have long disputed this version of events, suspecting authorities may have been involved in his death.
The National Prosecuting Authority will present new evidence in court to overturn the initial findings, although the specifics of this evidence have not been disclosed.
Luthuli’s grandson, Albert Mthunzi Luthuli, welcomed the reopening of the inquest, expressing hope for justice nearly six decades after his grandfather’s death.
Luthuli was a key figure in the fight against apartheid, leading the African National Congress, which later came to power in 1994 after the first democratic elections. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his efforts.
This case is one of two high-profile inquests into anti-apartheid figures’ deaths being reopened. The other concerns lawyer Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge, who was brutally murdered in 1981.
New evidence in Mxenge’s case suggests critical information was withheld from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The reopening of these inquests aims to determine the circumstances surrounding these deaths and whether anyone should be held responsible.
