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A South African court has ruled that Nobel laureate Albert Luthuli’s 1967 death was the result of an “assault” by apartheid police, overturning decades of claims that it was an accident.
An inquest held under the apartheid government concluded that Luthuli, the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died after being struck by a freight train while walking along a railway line.
But activists and his family had long cast doubt on the findings, and South Africa’s government reopened the case this year.
A judge on Thursday ruled that the anti-apartheid hero died as a result of a fractured skull and a cerebral haemorrhage associated with an assault. His family has welcomed the judgement.
Luthuli, who at the time of his death was the leader of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC), won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for spearheading the fight against apartheid.
The ANC went on to lead the struggle against white-minority rule and came to power in 1994, following the first democratic elections.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority in April reopened fresh investigations into Luthuli’s death as family and activists suspected the apartheid authorities had killed him and covered it up.
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, Judge Nompumelelo Radebe said evidence presented at the reopened inquest did not support the 1967 inquest findings.
“It is found that the deceased died as a result of a fractured skull, cerebral haemorrhage and concussion of the brain associated with an assault,” Judge Nompumelelo ruled.
The judge said Luthuli’s death was attributable to “assault by members of the security special branch of the South African police, acting in concert and in common purpose with employees of the South African Railway Company”.
She named seven men, whose whereabouts could “not be ascertained”, as having committed or being complicit in the murder. If found, they could face criminal charges.
After the judgment was read out, the Luthuli family’s spokesperson called it “the first part of finally getting justice”.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu also welcomed the court’s decision, which she said “corrected a long-standing distortion of history”.
“This ruling brings justice, truth and dignity to the memory of one of South Africa’s greatest sons and to all those who suffered under apartheid brutality,” Bhengu added.
The case at the Pietermaritzburg High Court is the latest in renewed efforts by South African authorities to deliver justice for victims of apartheid-era crimes and closure for their families.
Last month, South Africa prosecutors reopened the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, who died in police custody in 1977 after being tortured.
In May, President Cyril Ramaphosa established a judicial commission of inquiry to look into allegations of improper influence in delaying or hindering the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes.
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