The Pietermaritzburg high court has ruled that ANC leader and Nobel laureate Chief Albert Luthuli was murdered by apartheid forces in 1967, overturning a flawed inquest that claimed his death was an accident. The judgment vindicates decades of family efforts and highlights systemic judicial manipulation under apartheid. It recommends further investigation into witness disappearances.
On 30 October 2025, the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court in Pietermaritzburg delivered a historic judgment in the reopened inquest into the death of Chief Albert John Mvubi Luthuli, the former ANC president and 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The court set aside the 1967 inquest's conclusion that Luthuli died after being struck by a goods train near Stanger, with no criminal culpability found among railway employees or others.
Judge Nompulelo Hadebe described the original inquest as deeply flawed, noting a lack of thorough investigation and insufficient evidence presented under Section 16(2) of the relevant Act. She ruled: “As to the cause, or likely cause of death, it is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and confusion, concussion of the brain associated with an assault.” The judgment emphasized that Luthuli received no immediate emergency care after the assault; instead, a neurosurgeon was summoned from Durban to the under-equipped Stanger hospital, a detail Hadebe suggested in isiZulu might indicate an intent to finish him off.
Luthuli, who led the ANC from 1952 and faced repeated arrests and banning orders for his anti-apartheid activism, had his death covered up as part of a broader apartheid strategy. Hadebe criticized how magistrates were instrumentalized to enforce a “clandestine” agenda, echoing advocate Msimanga's submission: “There was, and perhaps even currently, an entrenched culture of lying about the true facts, where the murder of a political activist is involved.”
Family spokesperson Sandile Luthuli called the ruling a first step toward justice, ascribing liability to those complicit in the cover-up. Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi welcomed the decision, praising the persistence of families and institutions like the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu described it as a moral victory that corrects historical distortions and honors apartheid martyrs.
Prosecutions seem unlikely after over 50 years, with most witnesses deceased, though the court urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to probe witness kidnappings. This ruling aligns with ongoing efforts, including the reopened Steve Biko inquest and a commission into delays in apartheid-era prosecutions, such as the Cradock Four case.