Chief Albert Luthuli’s legacy honoured

[00:00:00]For nearly six decades, the official record claimed that former ANC President General Chief Albert Luthuli died after being struck accidentally by a goods train in July 1967.

[00:00:13]That apartheid era fabrication has now been formally corrected. This followed a historic ruling after a reopened inquest into Luthuli's death in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. The court found Chief Luthuli died from a severe cerebral hemorrhage and a fractured skull caused by a fatal assault by what the court said were apartheid security branch operatives.

[00:00:39]On the anniversary of his death today, a memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony was held in Groutville.

[00:00:47]Joining the Luthuli family were Norwegian Embassy officials bringing full circle to the international bond forged when Luthuli received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960.

[00:00:58]Together they launched a global campaign to purge apartheid state lies from the national archives.

[00:01:05]>> You know, for 60 years there has been this narrative of a train accident.

[00:01:11]Now, this narrative lives in many places.

[00:01:15]Uh just to name a few um it lives in school curriculum, books, history books.

[00:01:23]It lives in online publications, um it lives in the spaces of arts and culture, um museums and those kinds of places.

[00:01:36]Now, this is all the history that needs to be rectified to reflect the judgment of um a a a a Judge Khadebe in October 2025.

[00:01:51]>> The campaign will engage academic institutions, museums, and the Department of Arts and Culture to restore the dignity of Chief Lutuli's legacy as a steadfast defender of non-violence and human rights.

[00:02:05]Norwegian Ambassador Anne Beathe Kristensen pledged full support for the global initiative.

[00:02:11]>> Now now now know the truth about his passing gives us an opportunity to rethink, rewrite, and reestablish a frank conversation about the values that he he fought for because that is a battle that continues every day, every new generation.

[00:02:34]Uh so let us honor Chief Albert Lutuli by continuing a frank discussion about equality, about peace, about dignity.

[00:02:47]>> With 2027 designated as the year of Lutuli, the battle to honor Africa's iconic peace ambassador now moves from the courtroom to the world stage. For SABC News, I am Jade Polser in Groutville.