By Charmaine Ndlela
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is expected to reopen the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist and Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) founder, Steve Biko, whose death after alleged torture by the apartheid authorities drew worldwide condemnation.
The decision follows the approval by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development of a request from the National Director of Public Prosecutions, which was supported by the Biko family’s legal representatives.
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said on Wednesday that the aim of the inquest is to present evidence that will enable the court, in terms of section 16(2)(d) of the Inquests Act of 1959, to determine whether Biko’s death resulted from any act or omission that amounts to an offence by any person.
Biko died on 12 September 1977 at the age of 30.
He had been arrested with his comrade, Peter Jones, at a roadblock near Grahamstown (now Makhanda) on 18 August 1977 for violating his banning orders, which confined him to King William’s Town (Qonce).
After his arrest, he was detained at Walmer police station in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), where he was allegedly tortured, shackled with leg irons, and kept naked in a cell. It was only after 24 days in custody that medical attention was sought, when police noticed foam around his mouth.
On 11 September 1977, Biko was found unconscious, still naked and shackled, in the back of a police Land Rover and transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria. He died the following day.
The official cause of death was recorded as extensive brain injury caused by centralisation of blood circulation, intravascular blood coagulation, acute kidney failure, and uraemia.
A formal inquest held in November 1977 accepted the version presented by members of the apartheid regime’s Special Branch, who claimed Biko sustained his injuries during a scuffle and by striking his head against a wall.
Chief magistrate MJ Prins cleared both the security police and the medical practitioners involved. On 2 February 1978, the then Attorney General of the Eastern Cape declined to prosecute anyone for his death.
During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings in the late 1990s, five former Special Branch officers—Maj Harold Snyman, Capt Daniel Petrus Siebert, Capt Jacobus Johannes Oosthuysen Benecke, W/O Rubin Marx and Sgt Gideon Johannes Nieuwoudt—applied for amnesty in relation to Biko’s death.
They admitted to colluding in fabricating evidence and submitting false affidavits during the initial investigation.
However, the TRC denied their applications, finding their accounts contradictory and lacking any political motive.
“The NPA and its partners will continue their efforts to address the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the Biko family and society at large,” Tyali said.
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