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Stephen Bantu=20
Biko
18 December 1946 - 12 =
September 1977=20
![3D"Stephen](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/bikob.jpg")
Steve Biko was born in King =
William=92s=20
Town, South Africa. He was the third child in an average =
family=20
where his father was a clerk and his mother was a maid. Biko =
was not=20
offered the opportunity to know his father because he died =
when Biko=20
was only four years old. Steve Biko excelled in school as a =
youth=20
but his political activities caused him to be expelled from =
Lovedale=20
High School. Biko was still able to continue on to college =
where he=20
received a scholarship to attend St. Francis College in =
Natal, a=20
liberal Catholic boarding school. While in Medical School, =
Biko=20
became involved in the NUSAS (National Union Of South =
African=20
Students), a multiracial politically moderate organization.=20
It was while he was in Natal that Biko began truly=20
questioning the apartheid system and the conditions that his =
people=20
were forced to endure. Biko became more involved in the =
daily=20
struggle that faced Blacks, and he decided to quit medical =
school.=20
![3D"Biko](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko9.jpg"=20)
In 1968, Steve Biko became the =
cofounder and=20
first president of the all-Black South African Students=92=20
Organization (SASO) The primary aim of the organization was =
to raise=20
black consciousness in South Africa through lectures and =
community=20
activities. Biko concluded that the apartheid system had a=20
psychological effect on the Black population, which had =
caused=20
Blacks to internalize and believe Whites=92 racist =
stereotypes.=20
According to Biko, Blacks had been convinced that they were =
inferior=20
to Whites, which resulted in the hopelessness that was =
prevalent in=20
the Black community. Biko preached Black solidarity to =
=93break the=20
chains of oppression=94.
Biko=92s political =
activities=20
eventually drew the attention of the South African =
government=20
resulting in him being banned in 1973. The banning =
restricted Biko=20
from talking to more than one person a time in an attempt to =
suppress the rising political movement. The banning did not =
stop=20
Biko=92s commitment to activism. For the next four years, he =
continued=20
to spread his message at gatherings and with his underground =
publication called "Frank Talk". During this period Biko was =
often=20
harassed, arrested, and detained by the South African =
Police.=20
On August 18, 1977, Biko was seized by the police =
and=20
detained under section 6 of the Terrorism Act. This =
draconian law=20
had resulted in the loss of freedom of over 40,000 Blacks in =
South=20
Africa since 1950. The law permitted the police to hold Biko =
in jail=20
indefinitely, however the end of his term was due to his =
violent=20
death, not freedom. Biko was held in prison for twenty-four =
days=20
were he was interrogated, starved, and brutally beaten. It =
wasn=92t=20
until Biko was laying unconscious, that the doctors =
suggested that=20
he be transported to Pretoria for medical treatment, 740 =
miles away.=20
On September 12, 1977, Biko became the forty-first person in =
South=20
Africa to die while being held in the custody of the South =
African=20
Police.
The South African government claimed that =
Steve=20
Biko=92s death was caused by a hunger strike and claimed =
their=20
innocence. The then Minister of Police, Jimmy Kruger, was =
quoted as=20
saying crassly:
However, the official =
autopsy concluded=20
that Biko=92s death was due to brain lesion caused by the =
=93application=20
of force to the head=94. The officers who were responsible =
for Biko=20
while he was detained were absolved of any wrong doing by a =
South=20
African court.
Biko=92s tragic death had a great =
impact on the=20
people of South Africa and stunned the world. His funeral =
was=20
attended by more than 15,000 mourners, not including the =
thousands=20
that were turned away by the police. Steve Biko=92s legacy =
lives on=20
through the struggle he helped to ignite and through the =
freedoms=20
that South Africans now possess.
Gallery:![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/ibikofist.jpg")
![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko8.jpg"=20)
![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko4.jpg"=20)
![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko1.jpg"=20)
![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko7.jpg"=20)
![](3D"http://zar.co.za/images/bio/biko/biko11.jpg"=20)
Nkosinathi Biko
E-mail:=20 bikon@sbf.org.za
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