The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), during the reopened inquest into the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Luthuli, on Monday said that a magistrate had premeditated the outcome of the original inquest.
For decades that original inquest had maintained that Luthuli died after being hit by a goods train on July 21, 1967, in Stanger, on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Delivering the opening remarks before Judge Qondeni Radebe, State Advocate Ncedile Dunywa painted a picture of how the justice system might have collaborated with apartheid police in subverting the truth behind the death, which many people suspected to be a murder.
Dunywa said the outcome of the inquest, held the same year Luthuli died, was not based on fact and evidence, “but rather on the suppression of justice aimed at ensuring that the perpetrators remained hidden and protected".
He said Magistrate CI Boswell, who was appointed to preside over the inquest on Luthuli's unnatural death, wrote correspondence on August 4, 1967, preempting the outcome even before the evidence was presented before him.
“Magistrate Boswell wrote and communicated his opinion to the Secretary of Justice that 'I had to report that an inquest in connection with the death of Albert John Luthuli will be held at Stanger by me on the 19 September 1967 at 10am. From the report available at present, I do not expect the finding to be nothing other than accidental. The cause of death furnished by the district sergeant might be questioned by the relatives, but I can not anticipate on what grounds the dispute is raised," Dunywa said, reading Boswell’s correspondence.
Dunywa said there were witnesses whose testimony at the then inquest was not watertight, yet Boswell ruled in confirmation of his opinion to the Secretary of Justice.
Dunywa’s colleague Advocate Siyabonga Ngcobo led evidence on behalf of the NPA.
Two senior police officers who investigated Luthuli’s death in preparation for the new inquest also testified on Monday.
The first to testify was Captain Godisamang Frank Kgamanyane of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.
He said he faced challenges as the docket had been discarded due to the fact there was a policy that authorised the docket to be thrown away after a certain period.
He said he then relied on the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Museum, whose employee Brian Xaba helped him with archived information, including books such as the 'Let My People Go' and the 'Nobel Peace Prize Winner'.
He said he also relied on the Luthuli family members, among others and he thoroughly studied the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
He also managed to lay his hands on the medical report, which was compiled by neurosurgeons at the Stanger Hospital on the body.
Another investigator, Colonel Johannes Mothle, who was assigned to investigate TRC cases and took over the investigation from Kgamanyane, also consulted many people, including the Luthulis and an accident scene simulator, but was not sure if the expert conducted the simulation because he had to leave the province.
ANC veterans such former Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele and former ANC treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize were among those who attended Monday's proceedings.
The current inquest was requested by the then-Premier, Willies Mchunu, on behalf of the distressed Luthuli family members.
Mothle will continue with his testimony on Tuesday.