A South African court has overturned the official account of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli’s death, ruling that he was killed in an “assault” by apartheid police — not in an accident, as previously claimed.
Luthuli, who served as the president of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC), died in 1967. The apartheid-era inquest had concluded that he was struck by a freight train while walking along a railway line near his home.
However, decades of doubts from his family and anti-apartheid activists led South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority to reopen the case earlier this year.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Judge Nompumelelo Radebe of the Pietermaritzburg High Court found that the anti-apartheid leader died from “a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage, and concussion of the brain associated with an assault.”
She ruled that Luthuli’s death resulted from “assault by members of the security special branch of the South African police, acting in concert with employees of the South African Railway Company.”
The court named seven individuals allegedly involved in the crime, though their current whereabouts are unknown. They could face prosecution if found. Luthuli’s family welcomed the ruling, calling it “the first step towards finally achieving justice.”
The ANC also hailed the verdict, saying it “corrected a long-standing distortion of history” and restored dignity to one of South Africa’s greatest heroes.
“This ruling brings justice, truth, and dignity to the memory of Chief Albert Luthuli and all who suffered under apartheid brutality,” said ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu.
Luthuli, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for his leadership in the non-violent struggle against apartheid, remains a towering figure in South Africa’s liberation history.
The verdict is part of renewed efforts to bring justice for victims of apartheid-era atrocities. Just last month, prosecutors reopened the inquest into the death of another anti-apartheid icon, Steve Biko, who was tortured to death in police custody in 1977.
In May, President Cyril Ramaphosa also established a judicial commission to investigate alleged interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes.
