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Nkosinathi Biko told an audience at Islington town hall there had been no ‘miracle’ in South Africa that had led to the end of apartheid |
‘We need a positive black identity,’
says son of Biko
Legacy of anti-apartheid campaigner’s struggle for civil rights
THE son of the late anti-apartheid icon and South African folk hero Steve Biko spoke at the finale to Black History Month.
Nkosinathi Biko, who was accompanied by his mother Ntsiki, was greeted with a standing ovation and rousing freedom chants at Islington town hall.
He talked of his father’s legacy 30 years after his death and said British people should not take their freedom for granted.
He said: “When people speak of my father, they often focus on the circumstances surrounding his death and gloss over his struggle. They think of him as a victim and as a case note – testimony to a brutal regime. But I think we should remember the contribution he made to society.
“We can draw strength from this contribution which lives on in the way people fight for their freedom today.”
He added: “Freedom is an entitlement, but also a responsibility and it is our responsibility to ensure that freedom prospers where it is suppressed. We do live in a rainbow nation, but it wasn’t some sort of miracle as people often make out.”
Steve Bantu Biko was 30 when he died in Pretoria Central Prison from brain damage. The cause of his death was only discovered after sustained media pressure revealed the original post mortem, which concluded that a hunger strike had led to his death, was a government cover-up.
He had actually been beaten during a police interrogation. Biko was placed under house arrest before his death over his campaigning and trade union activities.
Initially, the African National Congress was very hostile to Steve Biko and his ideas of black consciousness, but has now included him in the pantheon of struggle heroes.
In October 2003 the South African justice ministry announced the five policemen who were accused of killing Biko would not be prosecuted because of insufficient evidence and the time that had elapsed since his death.
Nkosinathi Biko said: “My father was known for his slogan ‘black is beautiful’ and this still applies today. Black people still suffer from a culture of inferiority and this needs to be addressed by raising consciousness and promoting a positive sense of black identity.” |
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