/ 11 July 2007

SA to honour Albert Luthuli

The South African government announced on Wednesday a series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the death of former African National Congress president Albert Luthuli, the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The anti-apartheid icon, who received the 1960 Nobel Prize for his role in the struggle against white-only rule, died on July 21 1967 after being hit by a train in what is widely thought to have been an assassination operation.

President Thabo Mbeki is to deliver a keynote address on July 21 after a wreath-laying ceremony at Luthuli’s grave in the KwaZulu-Natal at the culmination of commemorations that will also include a gala dinner, the Arts and Culture Ministry said in a statement.

Luthuli, who was an advocate of non-violence, was president of the now-governing ANC from 1952 until his death. — Sapa-AFP