African National Congress (ANC) veteran and former Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe has told the court that the apartheid government considered Chief Albert Luthuli to be an irritant.
He said this as he gave his testimony before the Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.
Radebe shared that the apartheid government banned Luthuli and gave him mouth arrest.
Mouth arrest aimed at silencing him
According to Radebe, the mouth arrest was given to Luthuli to silence his radical nature, as he had taken over the ANC leadership as well.
Radebe stated that the ANC was effective under Luthuli’s leadership. The apartheid government gave him an ultimatum to choose between the ANC and chieftaincy, he added.
“It is popularly known that Chief Luthuli, in his reply, saw not conflict between the two. The apartheid state removed him as a chief, thereby making him a people’s chief,” he said.
He further said no one believed the fiction story of a train accident that allegedly killed him.
“A week before [the then] deputy president [Oliver] Tambo made that military command call ‘to war comrades; the apartheid regime assassinated president Luthuli and covered up that murder as a goods train accident’,” he shared.
“His overriding influence among the people, he said, across the colour lines, and his international prestige, including the Nobel Peace Prize, were the final straw that made the apartheid regime take the decision to end his life.
Ferocious regime changed him
“Yes, indeed he was a man of peace. But the regime’s ferocious fight against the people of South Africa changed his attitude. In his book Let My People Go, Luthuli said, ‘What had been the fruits of my many years of moderation? The road to freedom is via the cross’,” he quoted.
In 1967, the initial inquiry declared Luthuli’s death to be accidental. It stated that he was struck by a steam train, which led to his demise.
However, close to six decades later, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) contested the ruling. This let to the initial ruling being overturned.
Last week, Luthuli’s family and Hawks officers testified before the court. They all shared that the initial ruling on the inquest was unsatisfactory.
The Hawks revealed that they were unable to trace the train driver and conductor of the train that allegedly struck Luthuli.
