NPA to probe disappearance of boy who allegedly witnessed fatal assault on Luthuli

The National Prosecuting Authority has been instructed to investigate the disappearance a boy who allegedly witnessed Chief Albert Luthuli being assaulted by white men on the day of his death.

On Thursday, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) High Court ruled that the former African National Congress (ANC) President-General was beaten to death by apartheid police and employees from the SA Railway Company.

It also set aside, what it called the highly flawed 1967 inquest that concluded that Luthuli died after being hit by a train.

On 21 July 1967, in Groutville, KZN, a young, Mbhemu Mnyandu was given a letter by his father to deliver to Luthuli.

When Mnyandu reached the Luthuli family home, he was told the chief had left and went to the fields to check on his crop.

ALSO READ: Deputy President welcomes court ruling: 'Luthuli's death was not an accident'

When the boy reached the field, he saw a group of white men hitting Luthuli with a spade repeatedly on his head.

The men spotted him, however, Mnyandu, who was travelling with a bike, managed to get away.

Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe said a few days late, Mnyandu was visited by police at his home

“They took him away; under the pretext they were going to take a witness statement from him. To this day, the said Mbhemu Mnyandu has never returned home.”

However, before Mnyandu was taken away, he had recounted what he saw to his family and 58 years later, Bafi Mdletshe recounted his uncle’s story in court during the re-opened inquest.

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