The African National Congress (ANC) has welcomed the commencement of formal inquest proceedings into the unsolved deaths of anti-apartheid activists Albert Luthuli and Griffiths Mxengeno and said this was a “healing process and a catharsis”.

The proceedings are taking place in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

“…no matter how long it takes or how painful that truth may be. We stand with the families of Inkosi Luthuli and Griffiths Mxenge, and with all South Africans who seek to ensure that those who gave their lives for freedom are never forgotten—and that the circumstances of their passing are never buried beneath the weight of history,” said ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.

She said the inquest marked a significant moment in the nation’s quest for truth, justice, and accountability.

“For decades, their families, comrades, and the broader South African society have lived with the pain of unanswered questions surrounding the suspicious circumstances of their deaths. The ANC, as a people’s movement rooted in justice and dignity, has consistently called for these matters to be fully ventilated so that truth may triumph over silence and impunity,” she said.

She said Luthuli holds a singular place in South Africa’s history, noting that as the former President General of the ANC and the first African recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he embodied the moral authority of the liberation movement.

She said his unwavering commitment to a non-racial, democratic society and his courageous leadership in the face of apartheid repression inspired generations of activists.

“He was not only a leader but a living symbol of the values of peaceful resistance, principled defiance, and African humanism. His passing under mysterious circumstances in 1967 have long haunted the conscience of our nation, and this inquest is a necessary and long overdue step in affirming his legacy with the justice it deserves,” she said.

Bhengu-Motsiri described Mxenge as a fearless lawyer and freedom fighter, who was brutally assassinated in 1981 for using the law as a weapon of liberation.

She said his murder was a personal tragedy and a political act of terror.

“Today, as beneficiaries of the democracy for which they fought and died, we are reminded that the freedoms we enjoy were not handed to us—they were earned through sacrifice. The lives and deaths of President General Luthuli and Comrade Mxenge compel us to remain vigilant custodians of our democratic gains. They remind us that justice deferred is not justice denied only to the victims, but to the soul of our nation,” she said.