Oliver Tambo: Neither Do We

Oliver Tambo: Neither Do We

The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled that the death of African National Congress (ANC) President-General, Chief Albert Luthuli, was a murder, overturning the decades-old finding that it was an accident.

On 22 July 1967, following a memorial service held for the late President-General of the African National Congress (ANC), Inkosi Albert Luthuli, in Lusaka, ANC leader, Oliver Tambo, was interviewed by a reporter of the Zambia Mail newspaper. Tambo maintained that there was some “mystery” surrounding the death of Inkosi Luthuli, as it was reported that he was struck by a goods train, the day before, on 21 July 1967.

It was “a train which no African driver was permitted to drive,” noted Tambo bitterly. “His widow does not accept that he was struck by a train. Neither do we.”

Tambo praised Inkosi Albert Luthuli as a great fighter who died fighting for the rights of his people. He then mentioned that he had been phoning Stanger since 21 July, after getting the news of Luthuli’s passing on, without receiving any reply.

According to Tambo, the apartheid government was responsible for his death; and Luthuli’s passing would go down in history because immediately after his burial, the ANC’s army would invade Rhodesia and South Africa.

The judgment was delivered on Thursday, 30 October 2025, following closing arguments heard two weeks earlier. The inquest was reopened in April 2025 by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Luthuli died on 21 July 1967 at the age of 58. The initial inquest at the time found his death to have been accidental.

An inquest into his death was presided over by Magistrate C.I. Boswell on 19 September 1967. According to the court, there was no proof that any South African Railways employees or anybody else had criminal responsibility.

PRESIDENT LUTHULI WAS MURDERED BY THE RACIST REGIME!

Sources:
Lesego Seokwang, “Court Rules Chief Albert Luthuli’s Death was Murder, Not an Accident”, The Citizen, 30 October 2025.
Thula Simpson, “Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle”, Penguin, 2016.
Luli Callinicos, “Oliver Tambo: Beyond the Engeli Mountains”, David Philip, 2004.
Editorial, “Chief Albert John Mvumbi Lutuli: Isitwalandwe 1898 – 1967”, Sechaba, Vol. 1, No. 8, August 1967.

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