COULD BIKO PLAN SAVE SOUTH AFRICA?

On this day in 1977, South African anti-apartheid icon and leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko,
was arrested by apartheid security agents.

He was detained in the city of Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape province and
suffered a brain haemorrhage after being beaten by officers.

Instead of taking him to hospital, police transported him to a Pretoria prison. It was a journey of more than 700 kilometres that he endured chained in the back of a pickup truck. Within hours of his arrival, he died. He was just 30 years old.

Biko’s shocking death sparked outrage across South Africa and beyond. More than 20,000 people turned up for his funeral in his hometown of King Williams Town. The country was robbed of a future leader who would have played a vital role in post-apartheid South Africa.

To mark the anniversary of his arrest, we are sharing this interview. Biko warns that unless racist economic structures are completely dismantled when the country attains political independence, Black South Africans will never fully enjoy the fruits of independence.

In today’s South Africa, White people still hold over two-thirds of the country’s wealth despite making up less than 10 per cent of the population. The economic divide is as bad as it was during apartheid.

Maybe it is time for the country’s current rulers to implement Biko’s plan for a prosperous, fair South Africa. Could this action plan work today?