There was a turn of events at the Chief Albert Luthuli inquest after his daughter-in-law Velemina Luthuli, rubbished claims made by a newspaper that Luthuli was “half blind” prior to his death.
On Wednesday, Luthuli told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that her father-in-law was not of poor health. She disagreed with the newspaper that described him as half blind.
“Yes, he did undergo an eye operation, but his eyesight was reasonably good. In the evening at home, the chief would read the Bible by candlelight and sing songs from the hymn book, as we did not have electricity back at the time.
Refutes media reports of deafness
“I do not agree with the newspaper report because the train is so big. How could he not see something so big if he could read the font of the Bible?” she asked.
She said the stalwart of the African National Congress (ANC) [Luthuli] never used a walking stick. He would walk kilometres through plantations [sugarcane], and “as far as I know, he would always be alone”.
“Maybe one or two people would stop him on the road. Because his banning orders did not allow him to have more than one person in his company at any time. So he could not have many people or walk with many people,” she added.
The court highlighted that Luthuli stated in her statement that her father-in-law was not deaf.
His hearing was sharp
“In this paragraph I am trying to convey or refute the statement made by the media after he had passed away. The statement that he was, among other things, deaf. His room and ours were opposite each other, and there was a passage in between. So when the baby cried at night, he would wake my mother-in-law and instruct her to check on the baby.
“Now, if he could hear a baby crying behind a closed door, across the passage, how could he not hear a steam engine which is so noisy? How could he not feel the trammers that are made by the train moving or even vibrations? that is what I am trying to refute,” she said.
She said her father-in-law would wake up at 3am and write, while having a lot of sweets.
His vision was also very good
“I have never read what he was writing about. And I would see that he had sweets when I wake up in the morning to sweep.”
Luthuli received the Nobel Peace Prize before any other African. At first, it had been said that his death in 1967 was an accident. This after an inquest concluded that he was hit by a train while he was crossing a railroad track.
He fractured his head and died, the initial inquest claimed.
However, on Monday, the court ruled in favour of a new inquest. This after the Luthuli family expressed its dissatisfaction on the initial inquest outcome.
The inquest continues.
