Albert Luthuli’s final moments relived

A FORMER hospital clerk who saw Inkosi Albert Luthuli being brought into Stanger Hospital shortly before he died of his injuries, recalled this week how he recognised the face of the Struggle hero.

- BONGANI HANS

Mohamed Manjoo said that on realising that it was Luthuli who had just been brought in by an ambulance, he immediately alerted the hospital staff, who jumped into action.

He said that soon after the news of the historical death, he called an editor of the Sunday Tribune and ANC officials.

Manjoo, 81, grew up in Stanger before relocating to Johannesburg, where he is currently living. At the time of Luthuli’s death, he worked as the hospital outpatient clerk.

Manjoo became emotional and cried, leading to the adjournment of the proceeding on Tuesday.

He was the third witness to testify at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, where the inquest into Luthuli’s death is being held, to speak about a personal encounter and direct communication with the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died on July 21, 1967.

Others were Nozizwe Mabaso-Mhlongo, 67, who as a child lived with her parents at a shack near Luthuli’s Nonhlevu general dealers, and Luthuli’s daughter-in-law, Wilhelmina May Luthuli, 77.

An initial inquiry, which was presided over by Magistrate Cl Boswell of the Stanger Magistrate's Court at the time, concluded in 1967 that the ANC president-general was hit by a train and ruled out political motive.

The inquest was initiated by the National Prosecuting Authority to prove that Luthuli was killed by apartheid operatives because of his political activities.

Manjoo, who was 24 when Luthuli was brought in on a stretcher at the hospital, stated that the hospital incorrectly recorded that Luthuli was brought in by an ambulance driver named Peter Papayya; in fact, the driver was Zwane, whose first name he could not recall.