The words of Chief Albert Luthuli ring startlingly true today. In 1961, as he accepted the Nobel Prize, he said: “Humanity longs for the time when the great powers of the world will become great at heart and curb their ambitions, and pave the way for the settling of their differences in a statesman-like manner and so remove the threat of war.”
Luthuli, who passed away on 21 July 1967, played many roles: a Zulu chief, teacher and Christian leader, and president of the African National Congress (1952–67) in South Africa.
As CWM delegates and friends visited his grave at the Groutville Congregational Church—about 50 kilometers northwest of Durban, where the CWM Assembly is being held—they reflected how much his words and his life reflect the Assembly theme, “Rise to Life: Together in Transformation.”
When Luthuli was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in leading the nonviolent anti-apartheid movement, he was the first black African recipient.
As the delegates received a tour of the graveyard in which he his buried, and of the adjacent Groutville Congregational Church, CWM delegate Markel Abe Oneil Virgo, from the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, presented an offering from CWM to D.D. Buthelezi, who hosted the tour on behalf of the church, in Groutville, which is named for a missionary, Rev. Aldin Grout, from the American Board of Commissioners.
Buthelezi estimated that the Grout and other missionaries were in the area around 1840.
“We are so pleased to be here to learn about the legacy of Chief Luthuli,” said Virgo. “He was a man who fought Babylon in all its forms in all the ways that he could and in all the ways that he knew. May his life be an example to us all.”
History beckons
A few miles away from the Groutville Congregational Church lies the Albert Luthuli Museum, which contains a figure of Luthuli so lifelike that CWM visitors mistook it for a real person.
The museum is full of photos, press clippings, and artwork that commemorate the life of a transformational figure in South African history.
When Luthuli won the Nobel Prize, the small rural town of Groutville became the focus of world attention. He received a flow of congratulations from Christian leaders, world governments, and from South Africans who loved him.
“I think I won it because I was leader of the African National Congress and of our liberation movement here,” Luthuli is quoted beneath his photo in the museum. “The ANC and its allies had decided to carry out their struggle along non-violent lines.”
As Luthuli helped with what he called “that happy task,” he became a symbol of the people and their peaceful actions—a symbol still celebrated by many in South Africa today.
As the museum motto says, “The spirit of Luthuli still speaks to us all.”
