THERE are many heroes whom Africa lost in its pursuit for freedom. Among the greatest of them is the late South African Steve Biko, murdered by the apartheid police while in custody on September 12 1977.
There are many great stories told about these heroes and heroines, but again, Biko’s narrative, in his short but eventful life, towers above many of those stories.
On Tuesday the world quietly went about its business, with the Americans, true to form, reminding the world to mourn with it those who perished in the September 11 2001 attacks.
Those of a progressive disposition were naturally not bothered by the US’s now all-too familiar attention-seeking antics.
They went on about their business undeterred and not disturbed by Uncle Sam.
The MDC-T, on the other hand, were battling a hangover from celebrating their Rhodesian-induced fateful September 11 1999 birth.
The Rhodesians themselves were not to be outdone.
They were celebrating the arrival of the Pioneer Column to torment Zimbabwe on September 12 1890 at Harare’s Kopje.
But real pan-Africanists were mourning the demise of Biko, that great man.
In reality though, his life is not one to be mourned.
It has to be celebrated.
It has to be told, fully.
Biko was just 31 when the apartheid regime murdered him.
His crime – galvanising black and oppressed South Africans to rise against the apartheid regime that was behaving as if it owned the world.
And Biko mobilised the people with ease and to maximum effect — that fearless soldier of the oppressed people of the world.
There was in Biko that overwhelming determination to free the people of South Africa.
There too was in him that intense force which he exuded with passion to lead and participate in the people’s freedom.
Biko was that man.
That brave warrior of the people’s struggle.
This is why his story refuses to die, even when whites want it to be burried and forgotten.
It opens those wounds, those scars that now manifest in the many questions, like that of the land issue, now being asked in South Africa.
Zimbabwe answered those nagging questions when in 2000 it embarked on the historic Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.
The fruits of that programme are now there for everyone to see.
Another bumper harvest, driven by black farmers beckons for this great country.
This is what Biko stood for.
This is what he died for.
Below is Biko’s profile that must inspire leaders who want to defer the people’s dream by not empowering them.
“Steve Biko was born in the Ginsberg Township in what is today South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.
The third of four children, he was educated at Lovedale, a boarding school in Alice, Eastern Cape, before graduating from St Francis College, Roman Catholic institution in Mariannhill, Natal.
He then studied medicine at the non-European section of the University of Natal.
The leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, he was arrested at a police road block in August 1977 and held under the country’s terrorism legislation.
He died shortly after arriving at Pretoria prison the following month.
Born on December 18 1946, Google is commemorating what would have been his 70th birthday with a commemorative Doodle in recognition of his role in the modern history of South Africa.
Biko had already been expelled from Lovedale for his political activities.
Having been involved with the National Union of South African Students, he felt that black, coloured and Indian students needed their own body.
This led to the creation of the South African Students Organisation (SASO) which eventually became the Black Consciousness Movement.
“Black Consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time,” he said.
Once again his activism led to his expulsion, this time from Natal University.
He was also a victim of the draconian apartheid laws in place at the time.
In February 1973, Biko was banned, which meant he could not address a public gathering or even speak to more than one person at a time.
Undaunted by the restrictions, Biko continued organising protests.
At Soweto a squalid township south west of Johannesburg, high school students protested at the use of Afrikaans as the language of instruction.
It culminated in scenes which shocked the world with 170 people, mainly children, being gunned down by the police.
As the international community united in condemnation, the South African Government targeted Black Consciousness activists.
Biko was arrested on August 27 1976 and held in solitary confinement for 101 days before being released.
Biko was arrested at a police road block.
Stripped and manacled for 20 days, he was held at the headquarters of Security Police in Port Elizabeth.
Badly beaten, he was shackled to a grill before being taken on a 600-mile journey to Pretoria, where he died shortly after arriving at the prison on September 12 1977.”
While the world did not pay homage to this man, progressive minds always celebrate his life and deeds every day because he is an African hero in the truest sense of the word.
Let those with ears listen.