Tech giant accolade for Steve Biko

REVERED black consciousness icon Steve Biko has been honoured with a Google Doodle.

The occasion for Biko’s honour from the search engine giant was what would have been his 70th birthday yesterday.

He is the third South African to receive such an honour from the international tech giant, after former statesman Nelson Mandela and internationally acclaimed musician Miriam Makeba.

Biko, who died in a police hospital on September 12 1977, is mostly renowned for his role in creating awareness of the black consciousness movement during his lifetime.

The influence of the movement reached its zenith in South Africa during the 1976 Soweto uprising. His teachings are still influential to this day, as shown by the protest staged early this year by pupils of Pretoria Girls’ High School, and the growing of the decolonisation movements in higher education institutions.

The Steve Biko Foundation welcomed Google’s move, tweeting: “Great to see that #SteveBiko is on Google Doodle today in honour and commemoration of his 70th birthday today [yesterday].”

Biko, who was born in Ginsberg, King William’s Town, became a political activist while a medical student at the then-University of Natal. In an attempted cover-up, police said Biko had died from a hunger strike, but a Daily Dispatch exposé, written by current Western Cape premier and former DA leader Helen Zille, revealed that the BCM leader had been beaten and tortured to death.

Biko, who was close friends with the Dispatch’s former editor Donald Woods, wrote the now-famous book, I Write What I like.

Maps Maponyane tweeted: “Today’s Google Doodle honouring the great #SteveBiko on his 70th birthday is a beautiful touch.”

Storyteller @KKoterwski also went on Twitter and said: “#SteveBiko. Beautiful man. Revolutionary. Hero of liberation. Happy birthday to you. Rest in power. Rest in life.”