Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kievit,

MEC’s present,

Mrs Nontsikelelo Biko and Family,

Leadership of the Black Consciousness Movement and peers of Mr Steve Biko present here,

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

We have come together on a very special occasion, to honour a great South African who devoted his life to the struggle for the liberation of the people of South Africa.

We are filled with pride at his achievements, and humility at our modest contribution to ensuring that his memory lives together amongst all generations of our people and the world.

 

The Steve Biko Heritage Centre that we are opening today will bear testimony to the contribution of Steve Biko to our country.

 

We have dedicated the year 2012 to heritage. We have this year unveiled monuments and memorials that pay homage to those who made the supreme sacrifice during the wars of resistance and in the struggle for our liberation.

 

It is most appropriate that we end the year with a tribute to this leading son of our country.

 

Steve Biko blossomed in his youth. He was deeply intellectual, very compelling in his insight and ideas and too wise and perceptive for his age, accomplishing more than many in a life that was cut short painfully by the brutal apartheid police.

 

He loved this country and its people and for that he paid the supreme price. The pain his family and the nation felt at that time is immeasurable.

 

The regime killed a man who was dedicated to the freedom, justice and human rights that all, including former oppressors, are enjoying in our country today.

He was killed because he was brave and dared to challenge injustice head on.

It was a difficult period of harassment, persecution and even killings of those who dared to question the status quo.

 

Steve Biko and his generation, such as Professor Barney Pityana, who succeeded him as SASO President in 1970, Harry Nengwekhulu, Strini Moodley, Peter Jones and many others, showed enormous courage in articulating the plight of black people in this country, often at huge risk to their lives and careers.

 

Prof Pityana and Mr Biko for example, could not finish their studies at their respective campuses because of persecution, with Mr Biko paying the ultimate price of death in September 1977.

Steve Biko, was confined by Ministerial Order to his hometown, King Williamstown, since March 1973 and was not allowed to leave that area, as it was the case with many activists. 

 

Being a defiant activist, he did oftentimes violate the terms of his banning and on one particular occasion, he was arrested at a road block on his way back from Cape Town on 18 August 1977. He was arrested in terms of Section 6 of the Terrorism Act.

 

Biko was detained at the Port Elizabeth prison until he was transferred on 06 September 1977 to the headquarters of the Security Brach of the police, in a healthy state. However on the 07th he was showing signs of serious sickness, mainly head injuries, as his speech was seriously impaired, but what was more tragic was that instead of sending him for medical attention the police took turns to trivialise his injuries, saying he might have injured himself while he was trying to attack one of them, even though he was shackled! They also said he was faking the condition, even though it was clear that they were inflicted by them. Most tragic was the district surgeon’s verdict that he did not see any evidence of serious injury on Steve.

 

Another physician recommended that he be presented for medical attention but the police dallied for days until he was critical, after which they took a further callous decision of driving him naked overnight at the back of the police van from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria, without any medical attention! This happened on the night of another ominous September 11, but that was in 1977 and Steve Biko died desolate the following day on a mat in the Pretoria Prison Hospital.

 

In all these gloomy developments, his family was not properly informed about his movements, nor would they by any chance know of his dire medical condition.

 

The Minister of Police, Mr. Jimmy Kruger, on hearing of Biko’s death, said at the Transvaal Congress of the Nationalist Party that Biko had embarked on a hunger strike.

 

He made a callous statement that “I am not pleased nor am I sorry. Biko’s death leaves me cold.” One of the delegates congratulated him for being so democratic as to allow those who want to starve themselves to do so. The police officers involved in this dastardly deed were subsequently promoted! Heart-wrenching details of Biko’s death came out during his inquest and much more gory details were revealed by journalists Donald Wood and Helen Zille. 

 

In the wake of his death, all organisations that were related to the Black Consciousness Movement were banned. The Zanempilo Health Centre was handed over to the Provincial Health Department, the Medical Superintendant and the secretary dismissed and the salary of staff cut drastically to suit what was regarded as the level of the bantu.

 

After Biko’ death the state embarked on a massive clampdown on radical newspapers to forestall the publicisation of Biko’s death, the horrible prison conditions of political detainees and the maladies of the apartheid system which create such conditions. On Wednesday 19 October 1977, which has since been dubbed Black Wednesday, Jimmy Kruger, the Minister of Justice banned two sister Newspapers, The World and the Weekend World, predecessors of the Sowetan, both edited by Percy Qoboza and The Voice newspaper. Mr Qoboza also endured a period of almost six month detention at Modder Bee prison, but was released without being charged.  

 

The 19th October has now changed from Black Wednesday and is commemorated as the National Media Freedom Day in remembrance of what happened in 1977.

 

Indeed, our country has come a long way. Our freedom came at a huge price, and we should never take it for granted.

Steve Biko had entered the political scene at the height of oppression, when the ANC, PAC, SACP were banned, leaving a vacuum inside the country.

 

On leaving the National Union of South African Students in 1968 to form the South African Students Organisation, he began a new era of reflection amongst black students and black people in general.

 

Through SASO, he raised concerns about inferior education facilities provided to black students as opposed to what their counterparts in white universities had.

 

Universities were replicas of and a stark microcosm of the defective society of inequality and apartheid where the student population was drawn from. SASO criticised this defective society.

 

Through the Black Consciousness philosophy, Steve Biko defined a new phase in political activism. He focused on revolutionizing people’s minds to make them take responsibility for their own liberation.

Steve Biko insisted that being black was a state of mind, a commitment to a journey of emancipation.  

 

He promoted the infusion of new pride in the black community. He wanted them to be proud of themselves their efforts, their value systems, their culture, their religion and their outlook to life”[1]

 

He appealed to the black masses to reclaim their dignity and equality with other races in every respect.

 

In particular, this great leader decried black people’s subordination in the country of their birth. The black man, in his words, was reduced to ‘a shell and a shadow of a man.” He taught that true liberation comes when people are free from mental captivity.

 

He stated; “The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth... This is the definition of Black Consciousness. “[2]

 

Steve Biko did not only preach self-reliance, he also practised it. This was evident in his work for Black Community Programmes in Durban after his university days. When he was banished to his hometown, he established the Zimele Trust and the Zanempilo Community Health Centre in King Williamstown.

 

All these institutions were rooted in the communities, promoting self-reliance projects that sought to affirm that blacks can earn their own keep with dignity and care for one another.

 

The bedrock of these institutions was ubuntu, love, compassion, patriotism, affirmation of black pride and dignity, the very heart of the Black Consciousness philosophy that Biko propagated.

 

It is for this reason that though short-lived, facilities such as the Zanempilo Community Health Centre remain shining examples of meticulous service to the people.

 

His contemporaries say it with pride that at Zanempilo for instance, people were properly examined, treated with dignity and respect, given the best medication available, hospitalised if necessary and taught comprehensive aspects of health care and nutrition.

 

This humility and passion in rendering services should be emulated in our public service, now that we are free.

Proper and accountable service delivery is a key component of restoring dignity to our people, the dignity that Steve Biko sought for our people both theoretically and practically.

 

Our intention, working with the Steve Biko Foundation, is that this centre must serve as the epitome of the values, norms and mores that Mr Biko wanted to inculcate among all the oppressed people of South Africa.

 

As such, the principal objectives of the Steve Biko Centre are:

· To educate the Public about the Leadership of Steve Biko and His Contribution to Freedom and Democracy;

· To contribute to Poverty Eradication through the Development of Cultural Industries; and,

· To utilize Heritage as a Tool for Fostering Social Cohesion.

 

The Centre will serve as an intellectual resource, while providing an economic opportunity for the region.

It is meant to be a living monument that utilizes memory to channel local energies towards contemporary development challenges.

It is designed as both a vehicle for greater cultural awareness as well as a destination for tourists and economic development for the local community.

 

It is therefore also no surprise that the centre along with the other six national heritage sites making up the Biko Heritage Trail have been included in the National Liberation Heritage Route as sites focusing on the liberation history of South Africa.

 

This centre is a living monument to the teachings of Steve Biko.

 

It must immortalise his emphatic assertions that there is nothing wrong with being black. He reminded us that before liberating ourselves from the oppressor, we should liberate ourselves from the mentality that we are inferior. To him, psychological liberation was as important as political liberation.

 

Through his teachings, our people proclaimed proudly, that “black is beautiful’’. In teaching self-reliance, he stated boldly that “black man you are on your own’’.

 

Black consciousness as articulated by Biko was important then, and is still as important even today as part of building self-love and self-reliance amongst those who suffered decades of apartheid and colonialism.

We cannot expect that those many years of subjugation and dehumanisation did not cause damage to the psyche of some of the formerly oppressed.

 

Comrades and Compatriots,

 

On this special day, we should commit ourselves to ensuring that the name of Steve Biko lives on forever in our country, and that the youth and indeed all our people, fully understand and appreciate his contribution to the liberation of this country.

 

The South African people need to celebrate the life of this hero, beyond political divides.

 

Steve Biko stood in a class of his own, and today, we reiterate our immense pride and joy in being able to call this fearless fighter for justice and freedom, our compatriot.

We are proud to have Steve Biko as one of the heroes of our people, whose memory should live together in our hearts and minds.

 

To Mrs Nonsikelelo Biko and family, you should remain forever proud of the contribution of this selfless patriot to his country. South Africa is richer ideologically because of the heritage bestowed on us by leaders such as Steve Biko.

 

It is my honour and privilege to declare the Steve Biko Heritage Centre officially open.

 

I thank you.

 

[1] Biko p.53

[2] Biko. I Write What I Like, p.31.