On 12 September 1977, Stephen Bantu Biko died in a prison cell in
Pretoria. The announcement of Biko's death by the South African
government the next day sparked international and national protest.
Steve Biko
was not the only person to die in detention at the hands of the South
African security police; yet, because of Biko's prominence as a
charismatic leader of the
Black Consciousness Movement, his case captured the attention of many South Africans and people throughout the world.
Biko's death in detention illustrates the brutality of the security
police during apartheid and the state's hand in covering up torture and
abuse of political detainees. Biko's case also demonstrates the
collaboration of non-governmental institutions with apartheid and,
furthermore, that not all South Africans accepted or were satisfied with
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.
Biko was a founding member of the
South African Student Organization
(SASO), an exclusively black student organization that stressed the
need for black South Africans to liberate themselves psychologically and
to become self-reliant in order to fundamentally change South Africa.
The formation of SASO in 1969 marked the beginning of the Black
Consciousness Movement (BCM). This movement re-energized resistance to
apartheid in the 1970s and spawned a number of other political and
community development organizations. In 1973, the government banned Biko
to his home area, King William's Town in the Eastern Cape. Despite this
restriction, he continued his political work as a key figure in the BCM
and helped implement several community projects.
In August 1977, Biko and his associate, Peter Jones, drove to Cape Town
(violating Biko's banning order) to meet with members of other
liberation movement organizations. On their way back through the Eastern
Cape, the police stopped Biko and Jones at a routine road block near
Grahamstown. When the police recognized the two men, they arrested them
under Section 6 of the 1967 Terrorism Act that allowed indefinite
detention without trial for the purposes of interrogation in solitary
confinement. The police interrogated them at security police
headquarters in Port Elizabeth about their alleged involvement in
distributing "subversive" pamphlets in the area. Biko died on September
12, at the age of 30, from brain damage sustained after a physical
struggle with his interrogators, inadequate medical care, and inhumane
treatment. (Peter Jones was released 533 days later, in February 1979,
after solitary confinement and torture.)
The Port Elizabeth security police were known for their brutality. On
the morning of September 6, what would be described by the policeman as a
"scuffle" erupted between the policeman and Biko. Daniel Siebert led
the interrogation, flanked by Harold Snyman, Gideon Nieuwoudt, Rubin
Marx, and Johan Beneke. Amidst the physical struggle, the policemen
punched Biko, beat him with a hosepipe, and ran him into a wall, after
which he collapsed. The policemen then shackled Biko upright to a
security gate with his arms spread out ("spread-eagled") and his feat
chained to the gate, in a crucifixion position. They left Biko chained
to the gate (later laying him on the floor) and did not call for a
doctor for 24 hours.District surgeons employed by the government, Doctors Benjamin Tucker
and Ivor Lang, examined Biko on September 7. Biko was weak, spoke
unclearly, and had external injuries on his face and head. Despite
evidence of neurological damage, the doctors allowed Biko to be kept in
the cell, naked, chained to the grill, and did not record any external
injuries. A further test by another physician (a lumbar puncture that
should show brain damage) was reported as normal though it "[revealed]
blood-stained cerebrospinal fluid (indicating possible brain damage)."
("Health Sector," Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, Volume 4:
Institutional Hearings) When Biko's condition did not improve and he
lapsed into semi-consciousness, Dr. Tucker recommended that Biko be
admitted into a hospital. On September 11, the security police decided
to transport Biko approximately 700 miles (1100 kilometers) away to
Pretoria Central Prison (without any medical records), through the
night, lying naked on the floor of a small truck. Biko died shortly
after his arrival in Pretoria.
When Minister of Police, James Kruger, announced Biko's death, he
claimed Biko had died following a hunger strike. Many people questioned
this report and, when evidence from a post-mortem examination suggested
Biko had died from head injuries, Kruger withdrew his earlier
explanation. Kruger's initial announcement of Biko's alleged hunger
strike resembled the bizarre reports of other deaths in detention.
During periods of militant resistance (in the 1960s, late 1970s, and
mid-1980s) the number of deaths in detention increased; these cases were
explained by the state as suicides by hanging with the detainee's
clothing, head injuries after falling in the shower or other accidents,
and 'natural causes.'
The
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) concluded in its 1998 report that the use of torture and assault
during interrogation was "widespread and systematic," used by security
police at all levels and parts of the country, and condoned by the
government as an official practice. (Coleman, 53 and TRC Report, Volume
2, 187, 220) Physical beatings were the most common form of torture,
followed by suffocation, electric shock, forced postures or body
positions, and sexual abuse. Police also deprived detainees of sleep,
food and drink, kept them naked, exposed them to cold, and even dangled
detainees from windows. Many people were held in solitary confinement.
This kind of treatment caused shame and humiliation in addition to
physical pain and, when the police went too far, death. (Coleman, 54-55)
The TRC estimated that, between 1960 and 1990, 80,000 people were held
in police custody under security legislation that allowed indefinite
detention without trial and reported that seventy-three of those
detainees died while in detention. (Coleman, 56-57 and TRC Report,
Volume 2, 187) The police detained not only political leaders, but
people from all sectors of society, including children.
Because detention legislation allowed interrogation to be carried out in
secrecy, the police had the protection of the state when their actions
were investigated. Biko's case was brought to court in November and
December 1977, after much internal and international pressure on the
state to establish the true cause of Biko's death. The court questioned
three of the security policemen involved in the incident, Colonel
Goosen, their chief officer, and the district surgeons. Sometimes the
only evidence on the side of victims of police brutality was their
physical wounds. In the Biko inquest, the policemen and doctors
attempted to explain the forensic evidence presented by the pathologists
who conducted Biko's post-mortem examination while under orders from
their superiors not to embarrass the Security police or government. At
the conclusion of the inquest, the policemen and the doctors escaped
conviction and punishment. Furthermore, the South African Medical and
Dental Council and the Medical Association of South Africa failed to
convict Dr. Lang and Tucker for improper patient care, and, when their
case was taken to the Supreme Court in 1985, the doctors received
minimal, inconsequential sentences.