Wilhelmina Luthuli, daughter-in-law of the late African National Congress (ANC) President Chief Albert Luthuli, has testified that apartheid-era security police closely monitored their home in the years surrounding his controversial death.
She gave evidence at the reopened inquest into Chief Luthuli’s 1967 death, which resumed this week at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal.
The original inquest concluded that Chief Luthuli was fatally struck by a goods train in Groutville, located on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. However, Luthuli’s family has consistently rejected this finding, raising concerns over alleged state involvement and the suppression of critical evidence.
Wilhelmina Luthuli told the court that key information had been excluded from the initial inquest proceedings, suggesting a deliberate effort to conceal the apartheid regime’s role.
“There was no doubt we were being watched,” she said. “We would wake up to find a car parked near the hedge with black and white policemen inside, watching our home. If a visitor came, a Special Branch vehicle would appear shortly after.”
The inquest is expected to shed new light on the circumstances surrounding Chief Luthuli’s death and potentially overturn findings made more than five decades ago.