Latest news with #InkosiAlbertLuthuli
Russia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Prosecutors to present final arguments in first African Nobel Peace Prize winner's murder case
South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) advocates have been given four months to give Judge Nompumelelo Radebe a convincing argument that Inkosi Albert Luthuli was killed by apartheid operatives, not a goods train as was officially found soon after he died in 1967. Advocates Ncedile Dunywa, Annah Chuene, Siyabonga Ngcobo, and Xolani Msimango concluded, leading several people with evidence on June 11. Since the beginning of the inquest at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on April 14, the advocates have led an array of witnesses with evidence. Those who testified included South African Police (SAPS) members, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) officials, scene reconstruction and simulation experts, forensic analysts, medical evidence, family members of Chief Luthuli, anti-apartheid activists, and friends of Luthuli. Former justice minister Jeff Radebe also testified. The matter was postponed from June 11 to October 13, where the advocates would be given until October 16 to give closing arguments. The same court also postponed on June 17 the inquest on the death of another struggle stalwart, Griffiths Mxenge, who was killed by stabbing in Umlazi on November 19, 1981, to October 9. The Mxenge matter was first postponed on 14 April to give those who felt they might be implicated in his death, who were apartheid police officers at the time, a chance to apply for the government to provide them with legal representatives, as they were employed by the state when Mxenge was killed. The court first postponed Mxenge's matter to June 17, which was the holding date to establish if the officers had succeeded in finding lawyers. On their return on June 17, the court heard that their applications to have the state-provided lawyers were still pending. Since the beginning of Luthuli's inquiry, scores of Luthuli's family members, ANC leaders and supporters have been frequenting the court to hear what caused the death of the president-general of Africa's biggest liberation movement and the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Luthuli died at the age of 69 at the Stanger Hospital on July 21, 1967, hours after he was found with multiple head and upper-body injuries at the railway line Mvoti River bridge. The inquest heard that even his death at the hospital was questionable because he was not afforded proper medical attention that could have saved his life. The NPA instituted an inquiry as there were beliefs that the initial inquest conducted in September 1969 misled the public about the cause of his death. Magistrate C.I. Boswell, who presided over the inquest at the Stanger Magistrate's Court, had concluded that Luthuli had been hit by the goods steam train that was traveling to Durban as he was crossing the bridge to his sugarcane farm. The report indicated that Luthuli might not have heard the train hooting or seen it coming, despite that it was approaching him from the front. Another theory was that Luthuli deliberately ignored the train to kill himself. However, experts who testified before Judge Radebe indicated that Luthuli was likely attacked. The experts were backed by the National Archives Advisory Council chairperson, Sibongile Mnyandu-Nzimande, who testified that her family member witnessed white men assaulting Luthuli with a shovel near the bridge where the train was stationed. Mnyandu-Nzimande told the judge that her relative, who was a messenger transporting documents between Luthuli and her grandfather, was few days later taken away by police to state what he witnessed, but was never found again. At the beginning of the inquest, Dunywa said the outcome of the inquest, held the same year Luthuli died, was not based on fact and evidence, 'but rather on the suppression of justice aimed at ensuring that the perpetrators remained hidden and protected'. He said Boswell wrote correspondence on August 4, 1967, preempting the outcome even before the evidence was presented before him. Dunywa stated that Boswell communicated his written opinion to the Secretary of Justice that 'I had to report that an inquest in connection with the death of Albert John Luthuli will be held at Stanger by me on 19 September 1967 at 10 am. 'From the report available at present, I do not expect the finding to be anything other than accidental. The cause of death furnished by the district sergeant might be questioned by the relatives, but I can not anticipate on what grounds the dispute is raised.'First published by IOL
IOL News
2 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
NPA has four months to prepare closing argument's on Luthuli's inquest
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), will concluding its work on the Inkosi Albert Luthuli's inquest in October by presenting closing arguments at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Image: RANJITH KALLY THE ball is now with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) advocates to give Judge Nompumelelo Radebe a convincing argument that Inkosi Albert Luthuli was killed by apartheid operatives, not a goods train as it was found soon after he died in 1967. Advocates Ncedile Dunywa, Annah Chuene, Siyabonga Ngcobo, and Xolani Msimango concluded, leading several people with evidence on June 11. Since the beginning of the inquest at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on April 14, the advocates have led an array of witnesses with evidence. Those who testified included South African Police (SAPS) members, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) officials, scene reconstruction and simulation experts, forensic analysts, medical evidence, family members of Chief Luthuli, anti-apartheid activists, and friends of Luthuli. Former justice minister Jeff Radebe also testified. The matter was postponed from June 11 to October 13, where the advocates would be given until October 16 to give closing arguments. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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The Mxenge matter was first postponed on 14 April to give those who felt they might be implicated in his death, who were apartheid police officers at the time, a chance to apply for the government to provide them with legal representatives, as they were employed by the state when Mxenge was killed. The court first postponed Mxenge's matter to June 17, which was the holding date to establish if the officers had succeeded in finding lawyers. On their return on June 17, the court heard that their applications to have the state-provided lawyers were still pending. Since the beginning of Luthuli's inquiry, scores of Luthuli's family members, ANC leaders and supporters have been frequenting the court to hear what caused the death of the president-general of Africa's biggest liberation movement and the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Luthuli died at the age of 69 at the Stanger Hospital on July 21, 1967, hours after he was found with multiple head and upper-body injuries at the railway line Mvoti River bridge. The inquest heard that even his death at the hospital was questionable because he was not afforded proper medical attention that could have saved his life. The NPA instituted an inquiry as there were beliefs that the initial inquest conducted in September 1969 misled the public about the cause of his death. Magistrate C.I. Boswell, who presided over the inquest at the Stanger Magistrate's Court, had concluded that Luthuli had been hit by the goods steam train that was traveling to Durban as he was crossing the bridge to his sugarcane farm. The report indicated that Luthuli might not have heard the train hooting or seen it coming, despite that it was approaching him from the front. Another theory was that Luthuli deliberately ignored the train to kill himself. However, experts who testified before Judge Radebe indicated that Luthuli was likely attacked. The experts were backed by the National Archives Advisory Council chairperson, Sibongile Mnyandu-Nzimande, who testified that her family member witnessed white men assaulting Luthuli with a shovel near the bridge where the train was stationed. Mnyandu-Nzimande told the judge that her relative, who was a messenger transporting documents between Luthuli and her grandfather, was few days later taken away by police to state what he witnessed, but was never found again. At the beginning of the inquest, Dunywa said the outcome of the inquest, held the same year Luthuli died, was not based on fact and evidence, 'but rather on the suppression of justice aimed at ensuring that the perpetrators remained hidden and protected". He said Boswell wrote correspondence on August 4, 1967, preempting the outcome even before the evidence was presented before him. Dunywa stated that Boswell communicated his written opinion to the Secretary of Justice that 'I had to report that an inquest in connection with the death of Albert John Luthuli will be held at Stanger by me on 19 September 1967 at 10 am. 'From the report available at present, I do not expect the finding to be anything other than accidental. The cause of death furnished by the district sergeant might be questioned by the relatives, but I can not anticipate on what grounds the dispute is raised."
IOL News
06-06-2025
- IOL News
The inquest into Albert Luthuli's death: A family's search for truth
A reopened inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli's death on July 21, 1967, is being held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Image: Supplied The National Archives Advisory Council chairperson, Sibongile Mnyandu-Nzimande, described at the inquest into Inkosi Albert Luthuli's death this week how her father died heartbroken because of her uncle's disappearance without a trace at a young age after being kidnapped by apartheid police. Mnyandu-Nzimande, who was born in 1957, said police kidnapped her uncle after he had witnessed white men assaulting Luthuli at the Umvoti River railway bridge, Groutville, outside Stanger in the north coast on the morning of July 21, 1967. She was testifying at the reopened inquest, which the National Prosecuting Authority established to dispel findings of an initial inquest held in 1967, shortly before Luthuli's death from injuries a few hours after being brought to the Stanger Provincial Hospital. The initial inquiry has concluded that Luthuli had died after being hit by a goods steam train through his failure to avoid it while walking on the bridge, and that there was no one to be held accountable. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ She said she was never told about the name of her kidnapped uncle, although her father said his parents and siblings loved him. The former head of the Department of Arts and Culture said her father, Phothwayo Barnabus Mnyandu, had succeeded her grandfather, Thomas Mnyandu, to be traditional leader at La Mercy on the north coast. 'My father lived and died with a heavy heart from the disappearance of his brother at the hands of the police.' She said years before his death, his father, Mnyandu, who was the last born among Thomas's children, told the family about the disappearance of his brother, which also left her grandfather heartbroken until his death. Mnyandu-Nzimande said she was told that there was no case opened about her uncle's disappearance, and it was seldom talked about as the family feared that should they do that, they would face police brutality. 'It was a deep, cutting feeling of helplessness and despair as the family feared losing more lives at the hands of the police. 'This may also be because at the time, which was in the 1960s, the police were seen as a symbol of authority who could do no wrong in upholding the law in its purest form. 'When the police had committed a wrong, even as deep as killing a relative, the fear of consequences (when reporting it) was palpable.' She said it was when she was an adult and working that her father shared with her the story of how her uncle disappeared. The story started with her uncle delivering a letter from her grandfather to Luthuli using a bicycle. She said before being taken away by the police, the uncle told the family that on his arrival at Luthuli's home, he was told that Luthuli was working at his sugarcane field. As he proceeded to the fields, he witnessed a group of white men assaulting Luthuli with a shovel near a goods steam train that was stationed on a bridge. She said her father told her that her uncle reported that after witnessing the attack on Luthuli, he fled on realising that the assailants had seen him and reported to her grandfather what he witnessed. 'The word soon spread that the police were looking for him, and he was advised to go into hiding, though I believe the effort was not well planned. 'Hiding completely was nearly impossible because the community was scarcely populated and everyone knew one another, and the possession of a bicycle at the time was a glaring fact, and people would have known who had a bicycle,' said Mnyandu-Nzimande. She said a few days later, some community members told the family that they had seen the police walking with her uncle toward the Tongaat Police Station. 'Even today, he had never been found nor did the police ever come back to report what happened to him despite my grandfather being induna and well known in the area,' she said. She said she was not certain of the date of her grandfather's death, but her father died at the age of 94 in 2018.
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
IOL News
20-05-2025
- IOL News
Unveiling the truth: Albert Luthuli's funeral as a symbol of resistance
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. 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, which had grey hair and a beard, 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 the 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. On Tuesday, it was 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. [email protected]
