South African liberation leader Albert Luthuli died on 21 July 1967 near his home in Groutville, in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. A government inquest concluded his death was an accident – that he was hit by a train. This was always disputed by his family and almost 60 years later they were vindicated.
In 2025, a court ruled that Luthuli was murdered, his death the result of “assault by members of the security special branch of the South African police”. The ruling corrects long-standing historical records. It adds Luthuli’s murder to the catalogue of torture and assassination that the apartheid government increasingly relied on to suppress dissent.
Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli was born around 1898. He was an educator, Zulu chief, and religious leader. Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize winner was also president-general of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1952 until his death at 69.
