Biko’s death sparked outrage around world
HE was second only to Nelson Mandela in leading the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Steve Biko was a high-profile figure campaigning against racism – founding the influential South African Students’ Organisation in 1968.
But 40 years ago, on August 18, 1977, Biko was arrested in Grahamstown, on the southern tip of the country.
Although he’d been arrested before, Steve would never see freedom again.
Born in 1946 to a Xhosa family, Steve grew up in poverty.
He watched as his mother toiled as a maid for a white employer.
As a student, Steve was a passionate activist, joining the National Union of South African Students.
Most students in the country were white, as was the leadership of the union.
Steve and his fellow black students turned up to a conference to find the white leadership had arranged for them to stay in separate dormitories from the whites.
A frustrated Steve moved away from a multi-racial approach to his activism – if the black community wanted equality, he reasoned, they would have to do it themselves.
He developed an ideology of Black Consciousness – that black people must reject systems which made them a foreigner in their home country, and reduce their human dignity.
The Black Consciousness movement avoided protesting, instead focusing on community projects. It proved effective and spread so quickly that in 1973 the Government put restrictions on Biko’s movements and what he was allowed to say in public.
Despite trying to adhere to the restrictions, Biko was persecuted and detained four times.
Eventually, Biko broke his banning order by travelling to Cape Town for a meeting with fellow activists – but he was stopped at a police roadblock.
Steve was kept shackled and naked in a cell in a police station for three weeks, before being severely beaten.
His injuries resulted in a brain haemorrhage, and Steve was eventually transferred – shackled in the back of a Land Rover – the 500 miles to a hospital where died.
His death prompted outrage around the world – there was shock such a high-profile political leader had died in police custody.
South Africa’s police minister falsely claimed Biko’s death had been as a result of hunger strike.
There was an inquiry which absolved the security services of any blame. No one was tried in connection with his death.
Steve’s story galvanised the anti-apartheid movement and was eventually told in a book and the 1987 movie Cry Freedom.
Steve was shackled and severely beaten by police