Court finds that Luthuli was beaten to death by apartheid police

Decades-old lie exposed: Court finds that Luthuli was beaten to death by apartheid police

Mapaballo Borotho

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court has ruled that Chief Albert Luthuli was murdered by apartheid police, overturning the 1967 claim that his death was accidental.
A reopened NPA inquest found he died from head injuries caused by assault, not a train accident.
The ANC Youth League welcomed the ruling, calling it a long-overdue restoration of truth and justice.

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court on Thursday ruled that the late president general of the African National Congress (ANC), Chief Albert Luthuli, was murdered by apartheid police, dismissing claims that he died in an “accident.”

Luthuli died on 21 July 1967, and at the time, it was widely reported that he was struck and killed by a goods train near his home in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal.

An inquest opened in September 1967 found no evidence linking South African Railways employees or anyone else to criminal culpability.

However, a reopened inquest by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in April 2025 revealed new evidence showing that Luthuli was beaten to death by apartheid police.

NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the fresh investigation included expert crime scene analysis, forensic evidence, medical reports, and testimony from investigators, friends, and family of Chief Luthuli.

Ramkisson-Kara explained that Luthuli’s cause of death was determined to be a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhage associated with assault.

Presiding Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe also recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) investigate the disappearance of Mbhemu Mnyandu, who reportedly witnessed Luthuli’s assault before being taken by police for questioning and was never seen again.

The ANC Youth League welcomed the ruling, saying it dismantles decades of apartheid-era lies and restores dignity and justice to Luthuli’s memory.

“It affirms what the liberation movement and our people have always known that Chief Luthuli was a victim of the brutal machinery of apartheid state violence,” said ANCYL spokesperson Zama Khanyase.