Voice of Biko invoked
He was not only committed to a free South Africa, but to a better world and, therefore, the greater good of humankind
PRETORIA: If the gap between the rich and poor was urgently bridged, this would go a long way towards overcoming the crippling poverty many citizens of South Africa are faced with.
This is according to Professor Thomas Ranuga, during the Steve Biko memorial lecture at Unisa in Pretoria on Friday night. The chancellor professor emeritus of the University of Massachusetts in the US was addressing academics, political activists and ordinary people who had come in numbers to honour the late leader of the Black Consciousness Movement.
Biko died on the floor of an empty cell in the Pretoria Central Prison – now Kgosi Mampuru II – in 1977. He had been brutally assaulted by the apartheid police. Biko would have turned 69 in December.
Ranuga described him as a superb intellectual, militant and courageous. He said Biko was not only committed to a free South Africa, but to a better world and, therefore, the greater good of humankind.
He emphasised the importance of bridging the gap between the rich and poor, and said efforts should be made for equitable distribution of wealth. Without a good education, he said, there would be very little progress or upward mobility for the majority of people.
Young people, he said, should be taught about the racist history of the country in order to build a truly democratic and united society.
“The born-frees should know that after the political independence, the country still has a long way to go to reach the promised land.”
Ranuga said the promised land was in the hands of the young people “who dare not to forget the lessons of the past, if they are to succeed in building a better society for themselves and future generations”.
He encouraged people to confront racial inequality where it reared its ugly head. This would be in the spirit to honour Biko’s life, which he said must not be forgotten.
“As we continue to celebrate our relatively young democracy, we must have a deep and abiding sense of history and never forget our fallen comrades who established the foundation of our free society with their blood, sweat and tears,” he said.
The audience was reminded of Biko’s writings under the pseudonym Frank Talk, which were published after his death in a book titled I Write What I Like.
“We can’t talk about the Soweto uprising without us evoking the memory of Steve Biko,” he said.