- GODISAMANG, Frank Kgamanyane
- MOTHLE, Johannes Motel
- STEYN, Thomas Johannes Adolph
- LUTHULI, Wilhelmina May
- LUTHULI, Albert Mthunzi
- RADEBE, Jeffrey Thamsanqa
- THUSI, Thulani
- MZALLYA, Jabulani Simon
- MANJOO, Mahomed Haniff (NEW)
- MABSAO, Noziziwe Mhlongo (NEW)
- NXUMALO, Elliot Fenyane (NEW)
- BURGESS, Brendan Craig (NEW)
- LABUSCHANGE, Leslie Charles (NEW)
NEW MEDIA REPORTS
Chief Albert Luthuli’s grandson claims ANC never paid him a cent, SA says family seems entitled
Story by
- Mthunzi Albert Luthuli has claimed that his grandfather never received a single cent from the African National Congress
- Mthunzi, the grandson of the late Inkosi Albert Luthuli, made the claim at the inquest into his grandfather’s death
- South Africans weighed in on the claim, with some saying that the family were acting entitled by wanting compensation
Highy unlikely Chief Albert Luthuli was hit by a train: Witness
IOL: Bongani Hans and Daily News Reporter|09 May 2025
A WITNESS at the inquest into Albert Luthuli’s death said that it was too much of a tall story that Inkosi Albert Luthuli was hit by a steam train because the subsequent facts did not add up for the expert who is well versed with such vehicles.
1967 evidence into death of Chief Luthuli was a fabrication: locomotive expert
TIMES LIVE: 08 May 2025
The reopened inquest into the death of ANC president-general Chief Albert Luthuli heard on Thursday that the alleged scenarios surrounding his death were made up to cover up his killing.
Highy unlikely Chief Albert Luthuli was hit by a train: Witness
SABC NEWS: Dries Liebenberg 6 May 2025,
Police crime scene analyst, Brenden Burgess, has testified in the re-opened inquest into the death of ANC leader, inkosi Albert Luthuli, in the Pietermaritzburg High Court that the version of the driver of the train that allegedly hit him is highly unlikely.
Inquest casts fresh doubt over Chief Albert Luthuli’s cause of death
The Witness 06/05/2025
Decades after the mysterious death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli, fresh evidence presented at the reopened inquest has cast serious doubt on the official version of events — that he died after being struck on the head by a train.
Testifying in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, crime scene expert Warrant Officer Brenden Craig Burgess said his reconstruction of the accident showed it was highly unlikely the train could have struck Luthuli on the head — and it was more likely that any impact would have occurred at shoulder level.
Albert Luthuli inquest: Eyewitness account of train driver thrust under spotlight
EWN: Lindsay Dentlinger 6 May 2025
CAPE TOWN – A police crime scene analyst has called into question the eyewitness account of the train driver who was in the cab when anti-apartheid stalwart Chief Albert Luthuli was killed in July 1967.
Warrant officer Brendan Burgess told the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, in Pietermaritzburg on Monday, that Luthuli’s injuries, as documented in his autopsy, are inconsistent with the train driver’s version of events.
Cop contradicts driver of train that ‘hit’ chief Albert Luthuli
SUNDAY WORLD: 6 May 2025
A police crime scene analyst has told the inquest into the mysterious death of ANC president-general Chief Albert Luthuli that he does not believe the version of the driver of a train that allegedly struck down the first African Nobel Peace Prize winner.
W/O Brenden Craig Burgess took the stand and told the inquest about his findings when he examined the scene where Luthuli was killed on the day of July 21 1967.
https://sundayworld.co.za/news/cop-contradicts-driver-of-train-that-hit-chief-albert-luthuli/
Court hears how duo cleaned scene where Albert Luthuli died
EWN: Lindsay Dentlinger May 2025
CAPE TOWN – An induna from KwaDukuza has testified how he and his brother-in-law cleaned up blood believed to be that of anti-apartheid stalwart and African National Congress (ANC) leader, Albert Luthuli, from the rail tracks where he is said to have died in 1967.
Eighty-eight-year-old Elliot Nxumalo told the reopened inquest into Luthuli’s death in the Pietermaritzburg High Court that his brother-in-law, who worked in Luthuli’s shop, informed him of Luthuli’s death, allegedly from being hit by a train.
https://www.ewn.co.za/2025/05/05/court-hears-how-duo-cleaned-scene-where-albert-luthuli-died
Crime scene expert notes inconsistencies Luthuli inquest evidence
SABC: 5 MAy 2025 Fanele Mhlongo
A police crime scene expert, Brenden Burgess, has identified several inconsistencies in the evidence contained in the first inquest into the death of the late ANC President, inkosi Albert Luthuli.
These inconsistencies include the direction the train was travelling in. He testified in the Pietermaritzburg High Court that there were also inconsistencies between the medical reports by the doctors who treated Luthuli after the accident and the post-mortem.
https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/crime-scene-expert-notes-inconsistencies-luthuli-inquest-evidence/
Inquest into Albert Luthuli’s death: A witness recounts the final moments at Stanger Hospital
IOL: Bongani Hans 01 May 2025
A former hospital clerk who saw Inkosi Albert Luthuli being brought into Stanger Hospital shortly before he succumbed to his injuries, recalled this week how he recognised the face of the Struggle hero.
Mohamed Manjoo said that on realising that it was Luthuli who had just been brought in by an ambulance, he immediately alerted the hospital staff, who jumped into action.
Witness disputes evidence from original Chief Luthuli inquest
Mohomed Manjoo says the person who broke the news was not a Dr Joubert and the ambulance driver was not the person named in the first inquest
Inquest hears of lies told about doctor who treated chief Luthuli
The Stanger hospital clerk who positively identified Chief Albert Luthuli when he came to the hospital seeking help has pointed out the false information that was shared by the apartheid government regarding the Luthuli murder case.
Mohamed Manjoo told the Pietermaritzburg Court on Wednesday that the claims that a white doctor assisted Chief Luthuli and further announced his passing is false.
08 MAY 2025
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30 APRIL 2025
Chief Luthuli death inquest to focus on his injuries
Leading evidence expected in Luthuli inquest
Chief Albert Luthuli Case – Train driver’s version of events scrutinised
Timing of Luthuli’s death, prompt call for ambulance improbable in 1967, inquest told
Thabiso Goba26 April 2025 |EWN
Chief Albert Luthuli died in 1967, with the official records from the apartheid government saying he was hit by a steam train.
Chief Albert Luthuli inquest hears Dr Jabulani Mzaliya testimony
25 APRIL 2025
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The inquest into the death of ANC leader Inkosi Albert Luthuli reopened
‘We want the truth,’ says slain activist Mxenge’s daughter
THE WITNESS:
Makhanya was speaking on the sidelines of the official reopening of inquests into her father’s murder and that of Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday.
https://witness.co.za/news/2025/04/15/we-want-the-truth-says-slain-activist-mxenges-daughter/
Griffiths Mxenge inquest: Family deems it painful but necessary
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court sat for the fresh inquest into Mxenge’s death.
EWN:Thabiso Goba14 April 2025
https://www.ewn.co.za/2025/04/14/griffiths-mxenge-inquest-family-deems-it-painful-but-necessary
Griffiths Mxenge inquest postponed until June for witness preparation
COSAS 4 accused fail in bid to have presiding judge recuse himself
Discussion | Courts rules apartheid is a crime against humanity
ENCA: Friday 25 April 2025
https://www.enca.com/videos/discussion-courts-rules-apartheid-crime-against-humanity
Court rejects ex-officers’ bid to remove judge in COSAS 4 trial
UDM welcomes landmark ruling on apartheid-era crimes: healing is necessary for true reconciliation
23rd April 2025 MEDIA STATEMENT
Cosas 4: Naming the elephant in the room – the crime of apartheid
By Atilla Kisla Thought Leader / 16 April 2025
Caiphus Nyoka’s sister tells of heartbreak in emotionally charged testimony
Bernadette Wicks
- On Tuesday, Caiphus Nyoka’s sister, Alegria Nyoka, testified in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in aggravation of sentencing for Johan Marais.
- Former apartheid police officer Marais pleaded guilty to Caiphus Nyoka’s 1987 murder in November last year.
- Alegria Nyoka became emotional on the stand, recalling seeing her brother in the mortuary.
Thirty-seven years later, Alegria Nyoka still becomes emotional when she remembers the bruised and bloodied body of her brother, murdered anti-apartheid activist Caiphus Nyoka, in the mortuary.
The now 70-year-old cradled her head in her hands on the stand of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday as she recalled seeing a bullet wound on his forehead.
“It came to us as a shock. The last time we had seen him, he was alive. Now all we were seeing was his corpse,” she said slowly, the pain in her voice evident.
Alegria was testifying in aggravation of sentencing for apartheid-era police officer Johan Marais who, in November, pleaded guilty to having murdered her brother.
Nyoka was shot and killed by the apartheid police at his parents’ home in Daveyton in the early hours of the morning on 24 August 1987. He was just 23 years old.
An inquest at the time found that the police had been acting in self defence. In 2022, however, three former officers – among them, Marais – were charged with his murder and defeating the administration of justice. A fourth was also subsequently added to the case.
Marais pleaded guilty to the murder charge in November, saying he had been instructed to “take out” Nyoka.
He said Nyoka – who was affiliated to various groups, including the Congress of South African Students, the South African Youth Congress and the Transvaal Students Congress – had been identified as a “threat to the apartheid government”.
The matter was last in court last week, when it was postponed for the defence to secure a specialist report for sentencing. The court heard on Tuesday this report was still outstanding but that it was expected to be available on Friday.
Bloody mattress
On the stand on Tuesday, Alegria told the court the family had attended a neighbour’s funeral the day before her brother’s murder and that she had heard footsteps in the yard that night.
“After he was killed, his body was then taken without informing us,” she said – adding that when they went into the room in which he had been sleeping the next morning, all they found was a pool of blood on his mattress.
They were shuffled from pillar to post by police, she said, until they eventually took it upon themselves to check the mortuary and found his body there.
Allegria on Tuesday said even after her brother’s death, the apartheid government would not let her and her family grieve in peace. They were slapped with restriction orders for his funeral and there was a heavy police presence at the ceremony.
She spoke about the impact her brother’s death had on her family, saying because of his youth “we were still awaiting big things from him”.
“We had also hoped and wished he would go to university and become something,” she said.
“Our family was never the same after his death. We were a very close-knit family, we loved each other. And as a result, we became quiet, we were no longer the same.”
Broken heart
“He died with a broken heart,” she said.
“He became withdrawn and antisocial. We could tell he was always thinking of Caiphus.”
Asked how she imagined her brother’s life would have turned out had he not been killed that day, Alegria said she had no doubts.
She said:
Alegria wrapped up her evidence on Tuesday afternoon and the matter was subsequently postponed to Wednesday.
In the meantime, the trial of the remaining accused – Leon Louis van den Berg, Abram Hercules Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander – got under way in the High Court sitting in Benoni in December last year. They have all pleaded not guilty and are due back in court again next month.
Reopening inquests into apartheid-era crimes
https://www.primediaplus.com/reopening-inquests-into-apartheid-era-crimes/
