South Africa Reopens Inquiry into Albert Luthuli’s 1967 Mysterious Death

A South African court has begun proceedings to revisit the circumstances surrounding the 1967 death of Chief Albert Luthuli, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former leader of the banned African National Congress (ANC), following longstanding calls from his family and activists who have questioned the official account.

The move comes nearly sixty years after Luthuli was said to have died in an accident—allegedly struck by a train while walking along a railway line near his home in what is now KwaZulu-Natal province. The original inquest ruled out foul play, attributing no criminal responsibility to anyone involved.

But the narrative has never sat well with those who knew Luthuli and his significance to the liberation struggle. As the face of non-violent resistance against apartheid, Luthuli had become a symbolic and strategic threat to the white-minority regime. His family and civil rights campaigners have consistently cast doubt on the state’s version of events.

Now, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it will submit new evidence in an effort to overturn the initial findings. While details of the fresh evidence have not been made public, the decision has renewed hope for accountability among families of apartheid-era victims.

“We welcome this, even though it’s long overdue,” said Albert Mthunzi Luthuli, the late leader’s grandson, in an interview with local media. “We still believe many of those involved are no longer alive, but that should not stop the truth from coming out.”

Luthuli, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 for leading non-violent opposition to apartheid, was under state-imposed restrictions at the time of his death. Confined to his hometown and barred from political activity, he had become an isolated figure—yet remained a powerful symbol of resistance.

The court’s decision to reopen the inquest is part of a broader judicial effort to re-examine unresolved deaths from the apartheid era. On the same day, a separate inquest was launched into the 1981 killing of lawyer and ANC member Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge, who was found with 45 stab wounds and his throat slit.

Although a 1982 inquiry failed to identify his killers, a breakthrough came in 1990 when apartheid operative Butana Almond Nofemela admitted to Mxenge’s murder and that of several other activists. He was part of a covert hit squad operating under apartheid’s security apparatus.

Alongside fellow operatives Dirk Coetzee and David Tshikalange, Nofemela was convicted in 1997 but later granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) under South Africa’s post-apartheid reconciliation framework.

The Justice Ministry has since indicated that critical information was possibly withheld from the TRC during its hearings—a revelation that has triggered the renewed inquiry into Mxenge’s death.

Inquests in South Africa aim to determine the cause of death and establish whether legal action should be taken. For many families, these reopened investigations represent a long-awaited step toward justice, after decades of silence and unresolved grief.

As both cases return to the courts, they mark a pivotal moment in South Africa’s reckoning with its past—offering renewed hope that the full truth behind some of apartheid’s most haunting deaths may finally come to light.