HSF welcomes the reopening of the inquest into the death of Anti-Apartheid activist and Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, exactly 48 years after his torture and death in police detention. After the original 13-day inquest in November 1977, Biko’s death was ruled as an accident and the original medical examiners and alleged special branch (SB) agents were exonerated. In 1978, the Eastern Cape Attorney-General refused to prosecute anyone related to Biko’s death.
On 19 September 1977, Helen Suzman was one of the opposition MP’s calling for the resignation of the minister of police and justice minister James Kruger. She stated that the indirect cause of Biko’s death was section 6 of the Terrorism Act of 1967, which allowed police to detain those suspected of terrorism for 60 days without trial.
Helen was one of those invited to Steve Biko’s funeral, attending alongside fellow Progressive Party member Zach de Beer. When they arrived at the funeral with 10 000 mourners, they were met with a crowd outcry demanding them to leave. “I am Helen Suzman. I have come to pay my respects to Steve Biko” she called out. When she was demanded to prove her identity, she pulled out her credit card with her name on it. This is when the crowed allowed her and de Beer passage, allowing them to mourn the death alongside many who considered Biko to be one of the strongest anti-Apartheid voices.
After Biko’s death, Helen Suzman continued to mention him in Parliament, stating “The world was not going to forget the Biko affair, we will not forget it either.” True to her word, she continued to advocate for the fair and just treatment of those in detention, producing thirty-seven signed affidavits about the conditions of torture and ill-treatment in September 1987.
While the original 4 officers who were responsible for the death of Biko appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997 were denied amnesty, they continued to deny responsibility for his death. The inquest comes on the back of another Apartheid-era case Calata and Others v Government of RSA and Others, in which HSF was admitted as an amicus curiae.
