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Chief Albert Luthuli was born near Bulawayo in Zimbabwe in 1898.
A new witness is expected to take the stand today in the reopened inquest into the death of former ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in KwaZulu-Natal.
Luthuli died in Groutville in 1967 after a train reportedly hit him.
His family and the ANC have disputed this finding of the initial inquest, arguing that the apartheid government may have killed Luthuli.
Police forensic analyst Sunette Nel has also disputed the evidence presented in the first inquest.
Nel, who has concluded his testimony, has been assisting police investigators.
“The extent of the injuries suffered by the deceased does not correlate with injuries which would be sustained by any individual who was either struck by an oncoming train or whose body would have come into contact with the side of the train and a normal wagon.”
“On my own conclusion, the injuries sustained by the deceased are more in line with defence wounds while he was defending himself against an assault. As a result of the assault, he became unconscious. The assailants then dropped his body onto the railway track, in order to make it seem as if he was a victim of a train accident,” adds Nel.
