DURBAN - RETIRED school principal and prominent cricket personality Harold Samuel has a burning passion: to see the reopening of the inquest into the mysterious death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Inkosi Albert Luthuli.
His abiding interest in Luthuli and other liberation icons came through clearly in an interview with the Sunday Tribune after the official launch of his book, Gandhi Luthuli Mandela: the Struggle for Non-Violence in South Africa, at the 1860 Documentation Centre in Durban last week.
Samuel said most South Africans were sceptical of the original inquest into Luthuli’s death after he had been struck down by a train near his Groutville home on the North Coast 50 years ago. He believed the inquest was “a sham” .
“If the authorities had been serious about delving into the truth, they would have called in a number of material witnesses whose evidence would have proved crucial. But they didn’t.”
Samuel, 84, whose book links the lives of liberation icons of the 19th-21st centuries (Mahatma Gandhi, Luthuli and Nelson Mandela), unearths hitherto unknown details about the former ANC president’s death.
“I spent the greater part of my life in Stanger and from an early age was fascinated by this elegant old man who often visited community leaders in the town just a short distance away from his home town, Groutville.
“This fascination grew when I realised the leadership role he played in the country and was proud that one of our very own was recognised globally, as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.”
Samuel, chairman of the board of trustees of the SA Democratic Teachers Union and who once captained the Natal cricket team in the non-racial fold, said nothing would be more fulfilling than to see the Luthuli inquest reopened.
Guest speaker at the book launch was retired judge Thumba Pillay who lambasted the group of poo-throwing protesters who disrupted a recent fund-raising function in the North Coast town.
Pillay said Luthuli would be turning in his grave at such disgraceful behaviour.
Pillay said Samuel’s book helped inform people of the special relationship Luthuli enjoyed with the Indian community in Stanger.
Appealing for more people to tell their stories, Pillay said it was critical South Africans put together as authentic an account as possible of the country’s Struggle history.
This sentiment was echoed by the liberation fighter’s daughter, Dr Albertina Luthuli, who in a message in the new book commends Samuel, and encourages others to convert the experiences of their lives into words so that historic events are not lost for ever.