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The son of Steve Biko, the prominent South African anti-apartheid activist, has conveyed to the BBC the family’s strong belief that a renewed inquest into his death 48 years ago will result in the prosecution of those responsible.
Biko, a founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, is considered a martyr in the struggle against white-minority rule. He died at the age of 30 from a brain injury, nearly a month after being arrested at a roadblock.
At the time, police claimed he had injured himself by hitting his head against a wall. However, following the end of apartheid in 1994, former officers admitted to assaulting him, though no prosecutions ensued.
Nkosinathi Biko, who was six years old when his father died, emphasized that the country cannot progress without addressing its history of violence.
“We have a very clear understanding of what transpired and how Steve Biko was killed,” he told the BBC, speaking after the first hearing held at the High Court in Gqeberha, a city in southern South Africa, on the 48th anniversary of his father’s death.
It is alleged that Biko, who was under a “banning order” restricting his movement and activities at the time of his 1977 arrest, was tortured by five policemen while in detention.
“This process simply needs to follow the facts, and we are confident that a democratic court, in a democratic state, will find that Steve Biko’s murder was orchestrated and carried out by those who were with him – the five policemen implicated in this case,” his son stated.
The judge heard on Friday that two individuals linked to the case are still alive, both in their 80s.
Biko’s death sparked outrage in South Africa and was the subject of the 1987 Hollywood film “Cry Freedom,” starring Denzel Washington.
He had been a medical student at the University of Natal when he founded the Black Consciousness Movement, which aimed to empower and mobilize the urban Black population.
Biko was committed to combating the psychological inferiority experienced by many Black South Africans after years of white-minority rule, particularly at a time when anti-apartheid activists like Nelson Mandela were silenced and imprisoned by the regime.
The new inquest follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement five months ago of a judicial inquiry into allegations of political interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in 1996, uncovered numerous apartheid-era atrocities, including murder and torture, but few of these cases resulted in trials.
Biko’s case was examined by the TRC, where the implicated policemen admitted to making false statements 20 years prior, but they were not prosecuted.
“Accountability for our violent, brutal past is something that has eluded South African society,” Nkosinathi Biko said.
“You cannot have the trauma that we had, the flow of blood in the streets orchestrated by a state against a people, and then emerge with less than a handful of prosecutions ever being successfully made.”
He added that families who felt failed by the lack of prosecutions recommended by the TRC have continued to pressure the government for justice.
“You can’t give root to a democracy without dealing with some of the historical issues decisively,” he asserted.
The case was adjourned until 12 November.
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