Mthunzi Albert Luthuli, the grandson of the late Chief Albert Luthuli, told the court that his grandfather was never compensated for the work he did for the ANC.
“Chief Luthuli worked most of his adult life for the ANC, but he never received a single cent from the ANC. In the time when other fathers and grandfathers were working to look after their families, our family was suffering. And for such an injustice not to be attended properly, constitutes an injustice,” he stated.
Luthuli said this on Thursday in his testimony before the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
He came back to wrap up his testimony after it came to an abrupt stop last week as he had other commitments.
Was an infant when grandfather died
Luthuli was only months old when his grandfather died, And he said as a family they have always sought justice when it comes to his grandfather’s death.
“We have always seen it coming in various forms. One is uncovering the truth, and we believe that this inquest needs to do that,” he said.
He stated that the initial ruling on the death of his grandfather was an injustice.
Luthuli further said the family pursued the court route for the truth to be known, and for South African history books to be corrected.
“Because the history records of this country say that Chief Luthuli was either killed by a train or he died under mysterious circumstances.
Family seeking reparations
“Both of those statements are not true statements. Pursuing the truth will be done for the benefit of the family, also for the benefit of South Africa. The second point that I want to make is that we believe that justice needs to come in the form of reparations,” said Luthuli.
He revealed that his grandfather defied the rules of the apartheid government. This as he was under constant surveillance at home.
“He used to have meetings with his comrades even after the banning. I got the information from my mother that he would sneak out of the house and go to the sugarcane fields.”
Luthuli told the court that the apartheid police used to come and raid their home when he was a teenager.
Harassed by security forces
“In high school and when I was in university, the police of the time used to come to our home. I never knew what they wanted, we could only speculate. We thought that they suspected the Luthuli home was used to hide comrades. Or it was a storage for weapons. This was years after Chief Luthuli had died.”
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.
The court ruled in favour of a new inquest. This is after the Luthuli family expressed its dissatisfaction with the initial inquest outcome.
The inquest continues.
