ANC welcomes reopening of inquests into deaths of Luthuli and Mxenge

The National Prosecuting Authority will be presenting courts two reopened inquests into the deaths of ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli and human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge that will begin in two courtrooms in the Pietermaritzburg high court on Monday. 

“The purpose of inquests is to determine how a person died and if anyone should be held responsible for their death,” said NPA spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal Natasha Ramkisson-Kara.

In May last year, then justice minister Ronald Lamola accepted and acted on recommendations from the NPA to reopen inquests into the deaths of Luthuli, Mxenge and civic leader Booi Mantyi.

Luthuli, a renowned anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died on July 21 1967. Official reports stated he was hit by a train near Gledthrow station. 

The Luthuli Foundation said: “Nobody believes that story, even today.”

An inquest was held in 1967 and found the cause of death was a fractured skull. The inquest said the “evidence did not disclose any criminal culpability on the part of South African Railways and anyone else”.

Mxenge was an active member of the Release Mandela Committee and served as a member of Lawyers for Human Rights. He was also a founding member of the South African Democratic Lawyers' Association.

In November 1981, Mxenge was assassinated in Umlazi, Durban. He had been stabbed 45 times and his throat slit. The perpetrators behind the murder of Mxenge could not be established even though an inquest into his death was held on July 15 1982.

The NPA said the perpetrators who killed Mxenge were revealed nine years after his death through a confession drafted by Almond Nofemela.

In 1997, Nofemela together with David Tshikalange and Dirk Coetzee were found guilty of the murder of Mxenge, however they were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) before they could be sentenced by the high court sitting in Durban. This resulted in the discontinuation of the trial proceedings.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said the Luthuli and Mxenge inquests underscored the relentless work of the families and the ANC in seeking justice and closure on these long-standing matters.

“These proceedings being hope that the families and comrades of Cde Luthuli and Cde Mxenge may finally find closure.”

It said reopening the inquests was a significant step towards uncovering the truth and holding those responsible accountable. The party said it remained committed to seeking justice for the hundreds of other activists who died in mysterious circumstances and whose deaths were not fully explained.

“In particular, the ANC is focused on pursuing the perpetrators of apartheid atrocities who were neither subjected to the TRC and amnesty process nor faced normal prosecution for their involvement in such atrocities.”

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