The African National Congress (ANC) Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri says the ANC and its allied organisations are heartened by the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to reopen the inquests into the deaths of former President General of the ANC, Chief Albert Luthuli, who died under mysterious circumstances, and activist and lawyer Griffiths Mxenge.
The two inquests are due to get under way in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday.
Bhengu-Motsiri says she does not criticise the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but points out that some families did not get closure and must be afforded the opportunity to achieve this.
Mxenge was brutally murdered in Umlazi, south of Durban, in 1981. While three former members of the apartheid-era Vlakplaas security police were eventually implicated and faced trial, they were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission before any sentencing was handed down.
‘Get closure’
ANC NEC member Dr Zweli Mkhize is attending the reopened inquests. He believes proper inquests may help the families to get closure, but also that history will be properly recorded.
“As for the president of the ANC, President Albert Luthuli, his story of the accident with the train was never believed by anybody. It was very obvious from the start that there was something sinister about it, but we didn’t have facts. There was no proper investigation. And therefore, at this point, we hope this would give a whole new sense of what happened there. The issue of Mr Griffiths Mxnege was very, very sad, very tragic. We just woke up to hear that his car was found at Oshoek, burnt and what had happened, we didn’t know.”
Mkhize says there are many more leaders of the liberation struggle whose deaths are still shrouded in mystery.
“And we believe that the Truth and Reconciliation did what they would, but I think there should have been an avenue to open up further investigations to confirm the truth, the veracity of the claims that people had made, and also to follow up on cases that haven’t been properly closed.”
