THE family members of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former ANC President Inkosi Albert Luthuli, are hoping that the reopening of an inquest into his death will help them to find closure, said his nephew Dennis Luthuli.

Luthuli, whose father was the brother of Inkosi Luthuli, was speaking on Monday afternoon after the adjournment of the National Prosecuting Authority-led inquiry, which is presided over by Judge Qondeni Radebe.

The inquiry, which the family requested through then KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu, is aimed at finding the truth behind Luthuli’s death on July 21, 1967, with the original inquest held in the same year finding that a train had killed him.

“The claim that he was hit by a train does not make sense as there is no one who can be hit by a train and only sustain head injuries and have not broken leg and broken ribs.

“If this inquiry continues, it will help us get the correct version of what happened to him,” said Luthuli.

He said the family believed that the liberation struggle veteran and businessman was killed and then placed on the railway track to create the impression that he was hit by a train. He suspected that this was done to shield the killers who were believed to be linked to the apartheid security system.

“This inquest is important for us to get to the bottom of the truth as to what happened to our father,” said Luthuli.

The court heard that on the day, he was with a young woman and that some of his workers witnessed the incident, but none of them could be traced by the police officers who are investigating the current inquest.

The NPA believes that the police and justice system at the time lied about how Luthuli had died.

Former KwaZulu-Natal premier and Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said, “there is nothing hidden that can never be revealed”.

“At last, the truth is coming out, and there were questions that had been with us the past 58 years, but at least now everything is becoming clear.

“More information is going to come to make it clear why this was done,” he said.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za