Stephen
Bantu (Steve) Biko
Founder and
martyr of the Black Consciousness movement in the then white racist ruled Union
of South Africa.
Steve
Biko was one of South Africa's most significant political activists and a
leading founder of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement. His death in
police detention in 1977 led to his being hailed as a martyr of the
anti-Apartheid struggle.
Date of birth: 18 December 1946, King William's Town,
Eastern Cape, South Africa
Date of death: 12 September 1977, Pretoria prison cell, South Africa
An Early Life
From an early age Steve Biko showed an interest in anti-Apartheid politics.
After being expelled from his first school, Lovedale, in the Eastern Cape for
'anti-establishment' behavior, he was transferred to a Roman Catholic boarding
school in Natal. From there he enrolled as a student at the University of Natal
Medical School (in the university's Black Section). Whilst at medical school
Biko became involved with the National Union of South African Students
(NUSAS). But the union was dominated by white liberals and failed to represent
the needs of black students, so Biko resigned in 1969 and founded the South African Students' Organisation (SASO).
SASO was involved in providing legal aid and medical clinics, as well as
helping to develop cottage industries for disadvantaged black communities.
Biko and Black Consciousness
In 1972 Biko was one of the founders of the Black Peoples Convention (BPC) working on
social upliftment projects around Durban. The BPC effectively brought together
roughly 70 different black consciousness groups and associations,
such as the South African Student's Movement (SASM), which
played a significant role in the 1976 uprisings, the National Association of
Youth Organisations, and the Black Workers Project which supported black
workers whose unions were not recognized under the Apartheid regime. Biko was
elected as the first president of the BPC and was promptly expelled from
medical school. He started working full time for the Black Community Programme
(BCP) in Durban which he also helped found.
Banned by the Apartheid Regime
In 1973 Steve Biko was 'banned' by the Apartheid government. Under the
'ban' Biko was restricted to his home town of Kings William's Town in the
Eastern Cape – he could no longer support the BCP in Durban, but was able to
continue working for the BPC – he helped set up the Zimele Trust Fund which
assisted political prisoners and their families. (Biko was elected Honorary
President of the BPC in January 1977.)
Biko Dies in Detention
Biko was detained and interrogated four times between August 1975 and September
1977 under Apartheid era anti-terrorism legislation. On 21 August 1977 Biko was
detained by the Eastern Cape security police and held in Port Elizabeth. From
the Walmer police cells he was taken for interrogation at the security police
headquarters. On 7 September "Biko sustained a head injury during
interrogation, after which he acted strangely and was uncooperative. The
doctors who examined him (naked, lying on a mat and manacled to a metal grille)
initially disregarded overt signs of neurological injury."1
By
11 September Biko had slipped into a continual, semi-conscious state and the
police physician recommended a transfer to hospital. Biko was, however,
transported 1,200 km to Pretoria – a 12-hour journey which he made lying
naked in the back of a Land Rover. A few hours later, on 12 September, alone
and still naked, lying on the floor of a cell in the Pretoria Central Prison,
Biko died from brain damage.
The Apartheid Government's Response
The South African Minister of Justice, James (Jimmy) Kruger initially suggested
Biko had died of a hunger-strike and said that his death "left him cold".
The hunger strike story was dropped after local and international media
pressure, especially from Donald Woods, the editor of the East London Daily
Dispatch. It was revealed in the inquest that Biko had died of brain
damage, but the magistrate failed to find anyone responsible, ruling that Biko
had died as a result of injuries sustained during a scuffle with security
police whilst in detention.
An Anti-Apartheid Martyr
The brutal circumstances of Biko's death caused a worldwide outcry and he
became a martyr and symbol of black resistance to the oppressive Apartheid
regime. As a result, the South African government banned a number of
individuals (including Donald Woods) and organizations, especially those Black
Consciousness groups closely associated with Biko. The United Nations Security
Council responded by finally imposing an arms embargo against South Africa.
Biko's
family sued the state for damages in 1979 and settled out of court for R65,000
(then equivalent to $25,000).
The
three doctors connected with Biko's case were initially exonerated by the South
African Medical Disciplinary Committee. It was not until a second enquiry in
1985, eight years after Biko's death, that any action was taken against them.
The police officers responsible for Biko's death applied for amnesty during the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings
which sat in Port Elizabeth in 1997. The Biko family did not ask the Commission
to make a finding on his death.
"The
Commission finds that the death in detention of Mr Stephen Bantu Biko on 12 September
1977 was a gross human rights violation. Magistrate Marthinus Prins found that
the members of the SAP were not implicated in his death. The magistrate's
finding contributed to the creation of a culture of impunity in the SAP.
Despite the inquest finding no person responsible for his death, the Commission
finds that, in view of the fact that Biko died in the custody of law
enforcement officials, the probabilities are that he died as a result of
injuries sustained during his detention."1