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Steve Biko: 6 Memorable Achievements of the South African anti-Apartheid Activist

by World History Edu · December 16, 2020

Steve Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist who is best remembered for devoting his short-lived life to fighting against racial segregation. Steve Biko is renowned for co-founding the South African Students’ Organization (SASO) to promote the rights of Blacks. He spent the majority of his youth and significant amount of resources in fighting against the apartheid government. For example, such was his dedication to the cause of Black rights that he got expelled from many of the schools he attended.

His grassroots campaigns for universal suffrage and the empowerment of Black South Africans drew the ire of the authorities, resulting in him getting arrested many times. Biko called on all Blacks to take pride in their race (i.e.  through the adopted slogan “black is beautiful”) and eschew the pressure to maintain value systems of the white-minority. In 1977, Steve Biko sadly passed away after sustaining life-threatening injuries while in police custody.

READ MORE: Greatest African Leaders and Their Accomplishments

Fast Facts about Steve Biko

Born : Bantu Stephen Biko

Date of birth : December 18, 1946

Place of birth : King William’s Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Date of death : September 12, 1977

Place of death : Pretoria, South Africa

Burial place: Ginsberg Cemetery

Parents : Mzingaye Mathew Biko and Alice ‘Mamcete’ Biko

Siblings : Bukelwa, Khaya, Nobandile

Education: University of Natal Medical School, St. Francis College (1964-1965)

Spouse : Ntiki Nashalaba (married in 1970)

Children : Nkosinathi and Samora (with Ntsiki Mahalaba); Lerato and Hlumelo (with Mamphela Ramphele); Motlatsi (with Lorraine Tabane)

Ideology : African nationalist and socialist

Influenced by : Ahmed Ben Bella and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga

Most known for : being an anti-apartheid campaigner; Martyr of Black Consciousness; Father of Black Consciousness

Achievements of Steve Biko

Here are 6 important achievements of Steve Biko (1946-1977), the anti-apartheid activist and the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa.

United all racial groups to fight against white minority rule in South Africa

Although Biko was a huge fan of the Pan Africanist Congress and other African nationalist organizations, he reasoned that apartheid in South Africa could only end when all the racial groups (i.e. non-whites) unite to defeat the ruling white minority class. Starting at an early age while at a boarding school called St. Francis College,

Biko was irritated by the nature of the school’s administration. He voiced his resentment against the apartheid government.  Much of his inspiration came from pan Africanists such as Kenya’s independence fighter Jaramogi Oginga and Algeria’s Ahmed Ben Bella (later Algeria’s first president).

READ MORE: 10 African Countries That Had The Bloodiest Path To Independence

Apartheid in South Africa

Active member of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS)

His activism started from quite an early age. As a matter of fact, he was dismissed from his high school for his activism. After he was expelled, he went on to study at St. Francis College in KwaZulu-Natal. He graduated in 1966 and attended the University of Natal Medical School.

He was active in student activism, participating in the activities the Students’ Representative Council (SRC). He was also a member of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), fighting vocally against the apartheid government’s perpetration of white minority rule and racial segregation.

Encouraged blacks to feel worthy of a better life

Steve Biko achievements

The students’ union was largely made up of white liberals, who Biko believed that could never understand the ills that black people had to go through in apartheid South Africa. He was particularly concerned by the fact that the NUSAS was financed by white students and liberals. What irritated him the most was that, black Africans were prevented from entering the very dormitories that took host to the parties organized by NUSAS.

Biko’s admiration for a multi-racial approach to ending apartheid in South quickly evaporated, making way for a “black” nationalist approach. He called on Black students to act and organize as an independent people and push against the oppressive and racist South African government.

He went on to advocate for the psychological empowerment of blacks. He stated on numerous occasions that the Blackman must abandon all beliefs passed onto to him by his colonial masters. Those beliefs he reasoned were mental chains that held the black race down in a life of no dignity. According to Steve Biko, the “Blacks” should feel worthy of freedom and aspire to greater heights.

Did you know : Steve Biko drew quite a lot of inspiration from the French West Indian philosopher Frantz Fanon and the African-American Black Power Movement?

Steve Biko co-foundered the South African Students’ Organization

Founded in July 1969, the South African Students’ Organization (SASO) was Biko’s way of placing “blacks” at the forefront in the fight against white-minority rule and racial segregation. Biko and the co-founders of SASO made sure that the organization was opened to only blacks; by blacks he referred to non-whites; meaning it included the likes of Indians and other non-white minorities.

Steve Biko’s South African Students’ Organization (SASO) worked hard to promote the rights of Blacks through the usage of student activities such as sports, cultural exchanges, debates, and other social activities. The group directed a significant amount of its resources in fighting against the apartheid government in South Africa. A year after its establishment, in 1969, Biko was elected the organization’s president – the first president.  Such was his dedication to the cause of Black rights that school’s authority panicked and expelled Biko from the university in 1972.

It must be noted that Biko categorically stated that he was against anti-white racism. As a matter of fact, he had several white friends and acquaintances, most notably Duncan Innes (former president of NUSAS) and Donald Woods. The latter went on to write a Steve Biko’s Biography in 1978.

The change in direction of activists like Biko from multi-racial activism to a Black Nationalist approach came as good news for the white-minority National Party. The NP as a matter of fact initially gave their tacit approval to the activities of SASO as it reinforced their goal of racial segregation.

Did you know : Perhaps owing to poor academic results, Steve Biko was expelled from the University of Natal? Some have attributed his dismissal to his activism in the South African Students’ Organization.

Promoted Black Consciousness among the people

Steve Biko’s quote

The guiding ideology of Biko’s student organizations was the ideology of “Black Consciousness” – an ideology that encouraged Blacks to dispel the notions of race inferiority imposed on them for centuries by colonialists. Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement targeted the emancipation of the minds of Blacks. He and his fellow activists – such as Barney Pityana, Pat Matshaka (vice president of SASO) and Wulia Mashalaba (secretary of SASO) – believed that Blacks had to surmount the cultural, moral and psychological harm inflicted on them by white racists groups before they could step into their full greatness. The ideology was inspired by Black Power Movements and activists (notably Malcolm X) in the United States.

In simple terms, the Black Consciousness that Biko and the SASO preached was a way of life that was geared towards independent thought and critical reasoning.

Read More:  12 Important Accomplishments by Nelson Mandela

Co-founded the Black People’s Convention

Much of the work that Biko did as president of SASO was in the area of fundraising and recruiting activists to push the cause of the organization. In 1972, Biko voluntarily stepped down from his position at SASO, stating that he was passing on the mantle to a new crop of leaders. Biko was concerned that a cult of personality could build around him were he to stay longer as president of SASO.

After attending a conference in Edendale in August 1971, Biko and other Black Consciousness activists set about to establish the Black People’s Convention (BPC). The goal of the convention was to bring Black Consciousness to the masses. To the slight dismay of Steve Biko, the BPC, which was founded in July, 1972, excluded Coloured South Africans and Indians from participating.

The Convention appointed A. Mayatula as its president. Biko helped the Convention open up branches all across the country. About a year after its formation, the BPC could boast of more than 40 branches and a membership size of over 3500. Biko also tried to coordinate the activities of the BPC and SASO.

Biko and other Black activists set up the Black People’s Convention. As the leader of the group, Biko continued to call for the end of the apartheid regime. The group remained very relevant throughout the 1970s, working in cohort with other civil rights organizations in and outside South Africa. Their approach to spreading Black Consciousness was through the use of community programs (which were run by the Black Community Programmes) and healthcare centers. For example, they established a number of schools in the Ginsberg area.

Did you know : Steve Biko initiated talks with anti-apartheid organizations such as the African National Congress (ANC) in order to merge the activities of the BCM and the Pan Africanist Congress?

How did Steve Biko Die?

Steve Biko image on a stained glass window in the Saint Anna Church in Heerlen, the Netherlands

With the passage of time, and the increasing intensity of Steve Biko’s activism, the apartheid government became very concerned about the activities of the BCM, considering the movement and Biko threats to the state. Tagging the activism of Biko as everything but subversive, the apartheid government acted swiftly and imposed a ban on him in 1973.

Biko was stripped of the most basic of civil liberties. For example, he was banned from leaving his home King William’s Town. The activist was also prevented from voicing out his opinions, either in speech or in writing. He was also prevented from speaking to any journalist. He was also prevented from goin to his hometown King William’s Town.

The ban on Biko put a huge strain on his personal life, affecting his marriage and his ambitions to get a law degree from the University of South Africa. He was also subjected to threatening phone calls and outright malicious attacks from unidentified people. His house was once shot up by unknown assailants. The ban on him also put enormous financial hardships on him, as he could not find any gainful job.

This ban on Steve Biko’s civil liberties somewhat curtailed the gains that were being his movement.  However, Biko circumvented this ban taking most of his operations underground, hiding away from the authorities. By the late 1970s, Steve Biko had been arrested and detained on several occasions.

On August 18, 1977, Steve Biko, while he was on his way from a political meeting in Cape Town, was taken into custody and locked up in Port Elizabeth, which is in the southern part of the country. He was charged under the Terrorism Act. The authorities also accused him of obstructing the course of justice and tempering with witnesses’ oral statements.

While in custody, he was interrogated for hours a day and subjected to the most inhumane conditions. On September 11, 1977, Biko, chained and stripped naked, was sent to Pretoria, South Africa. While in police custody, Biko was brutally assaulted to the extent that he had to be later sent to the hospital. The renowned activist and anti-apartheid icon succumbed to the injuries he sustained at the hands of the racist cops. Steve Biko died on September 12, 1977. He died of what doctors say was a brain hemorrhage.

Biko’s death came as a huge blow to BCM and the anti-apartheid movement in general. His death was received with huge outrage and protests in South Africa and beyond.

The international anti-apartheid icon was buried on September 25, 1977 in Ginsberg Cemetery, near King William’s Town. His funeral was attended by more than 20,000 people.

Steve Biko’s quotes

READ MORE: Nelson Mandela’s Contributions in the Struggle Against Apartheid

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Biography of Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko, Anti-Apartheid Activist

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Steve Biko (Born Bantu Stephen Biko; Dec. 18, 1946–Sept. 12, 1977) was one of South Africa's most significant political activists and a leading founder of South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement . His murder in police detention in 1977 led to his being hailed a martyr of the anti-apartheid struggle. Nelson Mandela , South Africa's post-Apartheid president who was incarcerated at the notorious Robben Island prison during Biko's time on the world stage, lionized the activist 20 years after he was killed, calling him "the spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa."

Fast Facts: Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko

• Known For : Prominent anti-apartheid activist, writer, founder of Black Consciousness Movement, considered a martyr after his murder in a Pretoria prison
• Also Known As : Bantu Stephen Biko, Steve Biko, Frank Talk (pseudonym)
• Born : December 18, 1946 in King William's Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa
• Parents : Mzingaye Biko and Nokuzola Macethe Duna
• Died : September 12, 1977 in a Pretoria prison cell, South Africa
• Education : Lovedale College, St Francis College, University of Natal Medical School
• Published Works : "I Write What I Like: Selected Writings by Steve Biko," "The Testimony of Steve Biko"
• Spouses/Partners : Ntsiki Mashalaba, Mamphela Ramphele
• Children : Two
• Notable Quote : "The blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines to witness a game that they should be playing. They want to do things for themselves and all by themselves."

Early Life and Education

Stephen Bantu Biko was born on December 18, 1946, into a Xhosa family. His father Mzingaye Biko worked as a police officer and later as a clerk in the King William’s Town Native Affairs office. His father achieved part of a university education through the University of South Africa, a distance-learning university, but he died before completing his law degree. After his father's death, Biko's mother Nokuzola Macethe Duna supported the family as a cook at Grey's Hospital.

From an early age, Steve Biko showed an interest in anti-apartheid politics. After being expelled from his first school, Lovedale College in the Eastern Cape, for "anti-establishment" behavior—such as speaking out against apartheid and speaking up for the rights of Black South African citizens—he was transferred to St. Francis College, a Roman Catholic boarding school in Natal. From there he enrolled as a student at the University of Natal Medical School (in the university's Black Section).

While at medical school, Biko became involved with the National Union of South African Students. The union was dominated by White liberal allies and failed to represent the needs of Black students. Dissatisfied, Biko resigned in 1969 and founded the South African Students' Organisation. SASO was involved in providing legal aid and medical clinics, as well as helping to develop cottage industries for disadvantaged Black communities.

Black Consciousness Movement

In 1972 Biko was one of the founders of the Black Peoples Convention, working on social upliftment projects around Durban. The BPC effectively brought together roughly 70 different Black consciousness groups and associations, such as the South African Student's Movement , which later played a significant role in the 1976 uprisings, the National Association of Youth Organisations, and the Black Workers Project, which supported Black workers whose unions were not recognized under the apartheid regime.

In a book first published posthumously in 1978, titled, "I Write What I Like"—which contained Biko's writings from 1969, when he became the president of the South African Students' Organization, to 1972, when he was banned from publishing—Biko explained Black consciousness and summed up his own philosophy:

"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. Its essence is the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression—the blackness of their skin—and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude."

Biko was elected as the first president of the BPC and was promptly expelled from medical school. He was expelled, specifically, for his involvement in the BPC. He started working full-time for the Black Community Programme in Durban, which he also helped found.

Banned by the Apartheid Regime

In 1973 Steve Biko was banned by the apartheid government for his writing and speeches denouncing the apartheid system. Under the ban, Biko was restricted to his hometown of Kings William's Town in the Eastern Cape. He could no longer support the Black Community Programme in Durban, but he was able to continue working for the Black People's Convention.

During that time, Biko was first visited by Donald Woods , the editor of the East London Daily Dispatch , located in the province of Eastern Cape in South Africa. Woods was not initially a fan of Biko, calling the whole Black Consciousness movement racist. As Woods explained in his book, "Biko," first published in 1978:

"I had had up to then a negative attitude toward Black Consciousness. As one of a tiny band of white South African liberals, I was totally opposed to race as a factor in political thinking, and totally committed to nonracist policies and philosophies."

Woods believed—initially—that Black Consciousness was nothing more than apartheid in reverse because it advocated that "Blacks should go their own way," and essentially divorce themselves not just from White people, but even from White liberal allies in South Africa who worked to support their cause. But Woods eventually saw that he was incorrect about Biko's thinking. Biko believed that Black people needed to embrace their own identity—hence the term "Black Consciousness"—and "set our own table," in Biko's words. Later, however, White people could, figuratively, join them at the table, once Black South Africans had established their own sense of identity.

Woods eventually came to see that Black Consciousness "expresses group pride and the determination by all blacks to rise and attain the envisaged self" and that "black groups (were) becoming more conscious of the self. They (were) beginning to rid their minds of the imprisoning notions which are the legacy of the control of their attitudes by whites."

Woods went on to champion Biko's cause and become his friend. "It was a friendship that ultimately forced Mr. Woods into exile," The New York Times noted when Woods' died in 2001. Woods was not expelled from South Africa because of his friendship with Biko, per se. Woods' exile was the result of the government's intolerance of the friendship and support of anti-apartheid ideals, sparked by a meeting Woods arranged with a top South African official.

Woods met with South African Minister of Police James "Jimmy" Kruger to request the easing of Biko's banning order—a request that was promptly ignored and led to further harassment and arrests of Biko, as well as a harassment campaign against Woods that eventually caused him to flee the country.

Despite the harassment, Biko, from King William's Town, helped set up the Zimele Trust Fund which assisted political prisoners and their families. He was also elected honorary president of the BPC in January 1977.

Detention and Murder

Biko was detained and interrogated four times between August 1975 and September 1977 under Apartheid era anti-terrorism legislation. On August 21, 1977, Biko was detained by the Eastern Cape security police and held in Port Elizabeth. From the Walmer police cells, he was taken for interrogation at the security police headquarters. According to the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa" report, on September 7, 1977:

"Biko sustained a head injury during interrogation, after which he acted strangely and was uncooperative. The doctors who examined him (naked, lying on a mat and manacled to a metal grille) initially disregarded overt signs of neurological injury. "

By September 11, Biko had slipped into a continual semi-conscious state and the police physician recommended a transfer to the hospital. Biko was, however, transported nearly 750 miles to Pretoria—a 12-hour journey, which he made lying naked in the back of a Land Rover. A few hours later, on September 12, alone and still naked, lying on the floor of a cell in the Pretoria Central Prison, Biko died from brain damage.

South African Minister of Justice Kruger initially suggested Biko had died of a hunger strike and said that his murder "left him cold." The hunger strike story was dropped after local and international media pressure, especially from Woods. It was revealed in the inquest that Biko had died of brain damage, but the magistrate failed to find anyone responsible. He ruled that Biko had died as a result of injuries sustained during a scuffle with security police while in detention.

Anti-Apartheid Martyr

The brutal circumstances of Biko's murder caused a worldwide outcry and he became a martyr and symbol of Black resistance to the oppressive apartheid regime. As a result, the South African government banned a number of individuals (including Woods) and organizations, especially those Black Consciousness groups closely associated with Biko.

The United Nations Security Council responded by imposing an arms embargo against South Africa. Biko's family sued the state for damages in 1979 and settled out of court for R65,000 (then equivalent to $25,000). The three doctors connected with Biko's case were initially exonerated by the South African Medical Disciplinary Committee.

It was not until a second inquiry in 1985, eight years after Biko's murder, that any action was taken against them. At that time, Dr. Benjamin Tucker who examined Biko before his murder lost his license to practice in South Africa.   The police officers responsible for Biko's killing applied for amnesty during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, which sat in Port Elizabeth in 1997, but the application was denied.   The commission had a very specific purpose:

"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created to investigate gross human rights violations that were perpetrated during the period of the Apartheid regime from 1960 to 1994, including abductions, killings, torture. Its mandate covered both violations by both the state and the liberation movements and allowed the commission to hold special hearings focused on specific sectors, institutions, and individuals. Controversially the TRC was empowered to grant amnesty to perpetrators who confessed their crimes truthfully and completely to the commission.

(The commission) was comprised of seventeen commissioners: nine men and eight women. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu chaired the commission. The commissioners were supported by approximately 300 staff members, divided into three committees (Human Rights Violations Committee, Amnesty Committee, and Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee)."  

Biko's family did not ask the Commission to make a finding on his murder. The "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa" report, published by Macmillan in March 1999, said of Biko's murder:

"The Commission finds that the death in detention of Mr Stephen Bantu Biko on 12 September 1977 was a gross human rights violation. Magistrate Marthinus Prins found that the members of the SAP were not implicated in his death. The magistrate's finding contributed to the creation of a culture of impunity in the SAP. Despite the inquest finding no person responsible for his death, the Commission finds that, in view of the fact that Biko died in the custody of law enforcement officials, the probabilities are that he died as a result of injuries sustained during his detention."

Woods went on to write a biography of Biko, published in 1978, simply titled, "Biko." In 1987, Biko’s story was chronicled in the film “Cry Freedom,” which was based on Woods' book. The hit song " Biko ," by Peter Gabriel, honoring Steve Biko's legacy, came out in 1980. Of note, Woods, Sir Richard Attenborough (director of "Cry Freedom"), and Peter Gabriel—all White men—have had perhaps the most influence and control in the widespread telling of Biko's story, and have also profited from it. This is an important point to consider as we reflect on his legacy, which remains notably small when compared to more famous anti-apartheid leaders such as Mandela and Tutu. But Biko remains a model and hero in the struggle for autonomy and self-determination for people around the world. His writings, work, and tragic murder were all historically crucial to the momentum and success of the South African anti-apartheid movement.

In 1997, at the 20th anniversary of Biko's murder, then-South African President Mandela memorialized Biko, calling him "a proud representative of the re-awakening of a people" and adding:

“History called upon Steve Biko at a time when the political pulse of our people had been rendered faint by banning, imprisonment, exile, murder and banishment....While Steve Biko espoused, inspired, and promoted black pride, he never made blackness a fetish. At the end of the day, as he himself pointed out, accepting one’s blackness is a critical starting point: an important foundation for engaging in struggle."

• Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like . Bowerdean Press, 1978.
• “ Cry Freedom .”  IMDb , IMDb.com, 6 Nov. 1987.
• “ Donald James Woods .”  Donald James Woods | South African History Online , sahistory.org.
• Mangcu, Xolela. Biko, A Biography. Tafelberg, 2012.
• Sahoboss. “ Stephen Bantu Biko .”  South African History Online , 4 Dec. 2017.
• “ Steve Biko: The Philosophy of Black Consciousness ." Black Star News, 20 Feb. 2020.
• Swarns, Rachel L. “ Donald Woods, 67, Editor and Apartheid Foe .”  The New York Times , The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2001.
• Woods, Donald. Biko . Paddington Press, 1978.

“ Apartheid Police Officers Admit to the Killing of Biko before the TRC .”  Apartheid Police Officers Admit to the Killing of Biko before the TRC | South African History Online , 28 Jan. 1997.

Daley, Suzanne. “ Panel Denies Amnesty for Four Officers in Steve Bikos Death .”  The New York Times , The New York Times, 17 Feb. 1999.

“ Truth Commission: South Africa .”  United States Institute of Peace , 22 Oct. 2018.

• Biography of Donald Woods, South African Journalist
• South Africa's Black Consciousness Movement in the 1970s
• What Was Apartheid in South Africa?
• Memorable Quotes by Steve Biko
• Biography of Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, South African Activist
• A Brief History of South African Apartheid
• The End of South African Apartheid
• Understanding South Africa's Apartheid Era
• Biography of Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu, Anti-Apartheid Activist
• South Africa's Extension of University Education Act of 1959
• Chief Albert Luthuli
• Nelson Mandela
• Biography of Martin Thembisile (Chris) Hani, South African Activist
• Apartheid 101
• Biography: Joe Slovo
• Pass Laws During Apartheid

Waiting for the Barbarians

By j. m. coetzee, waiting for the barbarians the torture of stephen biko.

In September of 1977, shortly before JM Coetzee penned his first draft of Waiting for the Barbarians , a prominent anti-apartheid activist, Stephen Biko, was tortured to death in police custody in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The case sparked global outrage not only against the South Africa’s apartheid regime, but also against the use of torture.

At the time, Biko was considered to be “perhaps the only South African leader who could claim to have the mass support of the young radical urban blacks” (Eric Abraham The Guardian Sept. 14, 1977). Since the Soweto uprising of 1976, the anti-apartheid movement had gained momentum that would build through the next decade and ultimately bring an end to South Africa’s apartheid state. As one of the most outspoken early leaders of the movement, Biko was thus a seen as a threat by South Africa’s apartheid government.

Biko was arrested at a roadblock checkpoint on August 18th 1977 and taken into police custody for breaking a travel ban. When he was reported dead, three weeks later, the Port Elizabeth police claimed that he had died of a hunger strike. His autopsy report however soon revealed that he had died of a severe brain injury. Later investigations showed that he had three lesions on his brain that led to a massive brain hemorrhage on September 6, one week before he was reported dead.

Details of his torture soon came out, including that he had been beaten against a stone wall, beaten with a hosepipe while shackled, naked, in a spread-eagle position, to a grill. As the police in his cell individually denied causing his death, the full details will never be revealed. The event of his death called attention to the use of police torture against perceived enemies of the state and anti-apartheid activists held in cells around the country under Section 6 of the 1967 Terrorism Act, which allowed indefinite detention without trial for the purposes of interrogation in solitary confinement.

The methods of torture such as suffocation, electric shock, sexual abuse, sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures, starvation, etc. were used by South African police under the Terrorism Act. While proof of these methods wouldn’t be officially verified until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 1998, knowledge of these tactics made its way into public imagination in the 1970’s; and it certainly made its way into Coetzee’s imagination, as he meditated on the dynamic of the torturer and their victim and dramatized this dynamic in his novel, published in 1980.

Waiting for the Barbarians Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Waiting for the Barbarians is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why was the girl unhappy?

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why is waiting ironic

why is the story waiting ironic?

I'm not sure what you mean by "affection". The magistrate is the first-person narrator and flawed protagonist of the novel. Everything in this allegory is filtered through his point of view. He wants to live in peace in his outpost, serving his...

Study Guide for Waiting for the Barbarians

Waiting for the Barbarians study guide contains a biography of J.M. Coetzee, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Waiting for the Barbarians
• Waiting for the Barbarians Summary
• Character List

Essays for Waiting for the Barbarians

Waiting for the Barbarians essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee.

• Plot Structure Comparison: A Pale View of Hills and Waiting for the Barbarians
• The Possibility of Decolonization in J. M. Coetzee’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’
• Empire, Definition, and Identity: Concepts in Waiting for the Barbarians and "Stranger in the Village"
• Will the Barbarians Ever Arrive?: Scapegoating in the Writings of Coetzee and Primo Levi

Lesson Plan for Waiting for the Barbarians

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Waiting for the Barbarians
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Waiting for the Barbarians Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Waiting for the Barbarians

• Introduction
• Awards and nominations
• Adaptations

• Society and Politics
• Art and Culture
• Biographies
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Conclusion: Black Consciousness Movement

It can be concluded that the death of Biko left a vacuum similar to the one created by the banning of the ANC and the PAC after Sharpeville. On the positive side, many youths had reached a level of consciousness about the plight of Blacks in apartheid South Africa that could not be ignored. Contrary to expectation in White circles that the death of Biko would signal the end of resistance, the struggle instead escalated as political activism increased.

The role played by Biko and his colleagues in the BCM, as well as in the fight for South Africa’s freedom cannot be under-estimated. Steve Biko’s life reflected the aspirations of many frustrated young Black intellectuals. Therefore, when he died, he became a martyr and symbol of Black Nationalism, and his struggle focused critical world attention on South Africa more than ever before.

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Steve Biko: Legacy

By Steve Biko Foundation

“In Sesotho there is a saying 'motjheka sediba ha a se nwe' ('he who digs a well does not drink from it'). Only those who come after him will quench their thirst from its cool water. When the forebears formulated this adage, they had Steve Bantu Biko in mind, even as he sat in the world of pre-creation waiting to be created”

Today, the legacy of Steve Biko lives on through the work of a number of institutions in South Africa and the international community.  Among them are the Steve Biko Foundation; The Brazilian Steve Biko Cultural Institute as well as the Liverpool England based Steve Biko housing association. In the tradition of Biko these institutions focus not only on material issues such as housing, education and healthcare; seeking to achieve Biko’s vision of a more human face, they also focus on issues of history, culture and identity

30 years after the death of Steve Biko , Mrs Ntsiki Biko and Adv. George Bizos attend the opening of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics  at the University of Witwatersrand , Johannesburg

A 1980 song written by Peter Gabriel to commemorate the late anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko

Steve Biko is also commemorated annually through the Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, a programme of SBF facilitated in association with the University of Cape Town.  In its 13th year, the lecture has been delivered by some of 21st century's foremost thought leaders.

" Like all social processes, the African reawakening is a messy yet creative development, far from being subject to a body of predictive rules and regulations, nor is it reducible to a political programme." - Njabulo Ndebele, 1st Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2000

Professor Njabulo Ndebele and Mr. Nkosinathi Biko, SBF CEO

"An investment in Biko's children is an investment in the future of South Africa, for they will not desert this country. It is their heritage"  - Zakes Mda, 2nd Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture - 12 September 2001

Professor Zakes Mda

"A young man with a sharp intellect and a flair for organisation and leadership, Biko realised the need to raise the sagging morale of black people, to raise their consciousness and self-esteem; in his own words to ‘overcome the psychological oppression of black people by whites.’ " – Chinua Achebe, 3rd Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2002

Professor Chinua Achebe

"Steve Biko, whom we have come to honour, is among this great gallery of people whose work and devotion have impacted those beyond the native shores, and which make it possible for us even to talk about the possibilities of a new Africa out of the colonial ashes of latter-day empires."  – Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 4th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2003

Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o

"And as we now increasingly speak of and work for an African Renaissance, the life, work, words, thoughts and example of Steve Biko assume a relevance and resonance as strong as in the time that he lived. His revolution had a simple but overwhelmingly powerful dimension in which it played itself out – that of radically changing the consciousness of people. The African Renaissance calls for and is situated in exactly such a fundamental change of consciousness: consciousness of ourselves, our place in the world, our capacity to shape history, and our relationship with each other and the rest of humanity." - Nelson Mandela, 5th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 10 September 2004

President Nelson Mandela

"Bantu Stephen Biko’s key contribution to the freedom we enjoy today is in freeing us from the fear of death, thus allowing to become fully what we were created to be – agents of our own history. " – Mamphela Ramephele, 6th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2005

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele

"It is amazing to think that Steve did not have much time to propagate his teachings and in way, by rights, should have disappeared into oblivion...He didn’t have a flashy car or a big house. He lived in a ghetto township. He did not even have a university degree and by rights, should have been consigned to the oblivion reserved for all non-entities. But what his the reality?” - Desmond Tutu, 7th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 26 September 2006

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

"Steve Biko understood that to attain our freedom we had to rebel against the notion that we are a problem, that we should no longer merely cry out: Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine house?; That we should stop looking at ourselves through the eyes of others, and measuring our souls by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. " – Thabo Mbeki, 8th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2007

President Thabo Mbeki

“Biko’s writings speak less of his attitude towards the racist governors than it does aboutthe psychology and consciousness of the oppressed. He understood then as we mustnow, that the consciousness of the poor, and their active participation as agents of change in their own lives is the key to democratic transformation. For these beliefs, Bikogave his life in the name of freedom and democracy. For this, we owe him a debt ofgratitude and he certainly deserves his rightful place in our collective memories.”  - Trevor Manuel, 9th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 11 September 2008

Minister Trevor Manuel 

“Having been willing to give everything for the ideal of a democratic society, Steve Biko would have observed the progress of the country since democracy was introduced in 1994 with the greatest interest.  In fact, he would have done more than that:  he would certainly have been leading rather than observing, shaping events rather than being shaped by them.”  -Tito Mboweni, 10th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 10 September 2009

Mr. Nkosinathi Biko, SBF CEO & Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni

One of the things I began to understand about oppression as I worked on this issue was how the oppressor – whoever it is – will happily steal everything we have, but they will leave us our self-inflicted suffering. They will leave us; gladly leave us, our scars. And then they will help others define us by the wounds and scars we give ourselves...Steve Biko is known as the Father of Black Consciousness in South Africa. He taught that black people must investigate and validate their own existence, irrespective of other people’s opinions of them; that they must see themselves in the warm light of their own genius - the unique gift that they come into the world carrying to deliver to all of human kind; that they must have faith that they are made perfectly for the singular expression of the divine that they are. This is why one reveres Steve Biko.Because, in short, he fully understood that the foundation of any true liberation, any true liberation, is self-love. - Alice Walker, 11th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2010

Professor Alice Walker

"After the inquest I read some of his writings.  I have recently re-read some of them.  Even today, over thirty years on, in a radically changed society, their power is extraordinary.  You find in them a combination of eloquence, insight, political passion and political pragmatism." - Sir Sydney Kentridge , 12th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, 12 September 2011

Sir Sydney Kentridge

—Steve Biko Foundation:

Steve Biko: The Inquest

Steve biko foundation, steve biko: the black consciousness movement, steve biko: final days, steve biko: the early years.

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Mubarak Aliyu

August 19th, 2021, steve biko and the philosophy of black consciousness.

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The Black Consciousness Movement pioneered by Steve Biko played a crucial role in the resistance to Apartheid in South Africa. Pursuing broad coalitions alongside ideas of Black theology and indigenous values, Biko’s role in the anti-Apartheid struggle can be read as one of philosopher as much as activist.

This post is a winning entry in the lse student writing competition black forgotten heroes , launched by the firoz lalji institute for africa ..

Born 18 December 1946, Steve Biko was a South African activist who pioneered the philosophy of Black Consciousness in the late 1960s. He later founded the South African Students Organisation (SASO) in 1968, in an effort to represent the interests of Black students in the then University of Natal (later KwaZulu-Natal). SASO was a direct response to what Biko saw as the inaction of the National Union of South African Students in representing the needs of Black students.

Biko’s experiences under Apartheid drove his philosophy and political activism. He had witnessed police raids during his childhood and lived through the brutality and intimidation the Apartheid government was known for. Biko’s philosophy focused primarily on liberating the minds of Black people who had been relegated to an inferior status by white power structures, seeing the power struggle in South Africa as ‘a microcosm of the confrontation between the third world and the first world’.

The philosophy of Black consciousness

The Black Consciousness Movement centred on race as a determining factor in the oppression of Black people in South Africa, in response to racial oppression and the dehumanisation of Black people under Apartheid. ‘Black’ as defined by Biko was not limited to Africans, but also included Asians and ‘coloureds’ (South Africans of mixed race including African, European and/or Asian origin), incorporating Black Theology, indigenous values and political organisation against the ruling system.

The movement viewed the liberation of the mind as the primary weapon in the fight for freedom in South Africa, defining Black consciousness as, first, an inward-looking process, where Black people regain the pride stripped away from them by the Apartheid system. His philosophy casts a positive retelling of African history, which has been heavily distorted and vilified by European imperialists in an attempt to construct their colonies. In his writings, he notes that ‘[a] people without a positive history is like a vehicle without an engine’.

At the heart of this thinking is the realisation by blacks that the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed

A necessary step towards restoring dignity to Black people, according to Biko, involves elevating the heroes of African history and promoting African heritage to deconstruct the idea of Africa as the dark continent. Black consciousness seeks to extract the positive values within indigenous African cultures and to make it a standard with which Black people judge themselves – the first form of resistance towards imperialism and Apartheid. According to Biko, ‘what black consciousness seeks to do is to produce at the output end of the process, real black people who do not consider themselves as appendages to white society’.

In Apartheid South Africa, Black consciousness aimed to unite citizens under the main cause of their oppression. Biko’s philosophy goes further to introduce the concept of Black theology, arguing the message in Christianity needs to be taught from the perspective of the oppressed to fit the journey of Black people’s self-realisation. According to Biko, Black theology must preach that it is a sin to allow oneself to be oppressed. Adapting Christianity to African values and belief systems is at the core of doing away with ‘spiritual poverty’.

In 1972, Biko founded the Black People’s Convention as an umbrella organisation for the Black Consciousness Movement, which had begun sweeping through universities across the nation. One year later, he and eight other leaders of the movement were banned by the South African government, which limited Biko to his home of King William’s Town. He continued to defy the banning order, however, by supporting the Convention, leading to several arrests in the following years.

On 21 August 1977, Biko was detained by the police and held at the eastern city of Port Elizabeth, where he was violently tortured and interrogated. By 11 September, he was found naked and chained to a prison cell door. He died in a hospital cell the following day as a result of brain injuries sustained at the hands of the police. Although the details of his torture remain unknown, Biko’s death has been understood by many South Africans as an assassination.

Black consciousness was beyond a movement; it was a philosophy deeply grounded in African Humanism, for which Biko should be considered not only an activist but a philosopher in his own right. His legacy remains one deeply relevant today – of resistance and self-determination in the face of widespread oppression.

All quotes are taken from Steve Biko’s selected writings in his book ‘I write what I like’ .

Photo : Steve Biko . Stained glass window by Daan Wildschut in the Saint Anna Church, Heerlen (the Netherlands), ca. 1976.  Source: Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 .

About the author

Mubarak Aliyu is an MSc Development Studies candidate at LSE, with a specialism in African Development. His research interests include education reform, indigenous knowledge systems and grassroots political organisation.

Black history should be spread to empire the youth of Africans and erase the mind motive of slavery

The Born Frees ( Everyone Who Is Born During The State Of Independence Of South Africa ) Of South Africa Should Acknowledge Historical Legitimate Activists As Honoured Egalitarians And Patriots Who Fought For Freedom, Liberty & The Downfall Of Apartheid Regime. Those Legends Fought For Our Rights And Privileges We Are Currently Enjoying.

I’m The Top Learner (Historian) Of Mavalani High School Which Is Located South Africa In Limpopo.

This really helped me in my biography project and i got 85%

Thank you so much for the summary. I’m assisting a grade 5 learner with her school project

As a black South African woman in her 50s, I think it is every child’s right to know who they are. Black consciousness was and still is necessary. I’m saddened by what the apartheid regime did to us.

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We remember Steve Bantu Biko

Mr Steve Biko, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement

Thirty years ago Mr Steve Bantu Biko was brutally murdered. He was only 30 years old, a young man full of vision and promise. His death robbed our country and the world of a truly gifted leader.

In 1997, on the 20th anniversary of his death, Mr Nelson Mandela said:

“History called upon Steve Biko at a time when the political pulse of our people had been rendered faint by banning, imprisonment, exile, murder and banishment.

“Repression had swept the country clear of all visible organisation of the people. But at each turn of history, apartheid was bound to spawn resistance; it was destined to bring to life the forces that would guarantee its death. It is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the oppressed. Such was Steve Biko, a fitting product of his time; a proud representative of the re-awakening of a people.

“While Steve Biko espoused, inspired, and promoted black pride, he never made blackness a fetish. At the end of the day, as he himself pointed out, accepting one’s blackness is a critical starting point: an important foundation for engaging in struggle. Today, it must be a foundation for reconstruction and development, for a common human effort to end war, poverty, ignorance and disease.

“One of the greatest legacies of the struggle that Biko waged – and for which he died – was the explosion of pride among the victims of apartheid. The value that black consciousness placed on culture reverberated across our land; in our prisons; and amongst the communities in exile. Our people, who were once enjoined to look to Europe and America for creative sustenance, turned their eyes to Africa.”

Indeed, many people of his generation say that they found their path to non-racialism through the philosophy espoused by Biko. He encouraged fearless and open debate, inspiring oppressed people to recognise their own worth, take joy in their own humanity, and recognise – as equals – the humanity of others.

DID YOU KNOW? On Robben Island in 1978, a year after Mr Biko’s death, Mr Mandela wrote an assessment of the Black Consciousness Movement titled Whither the Black Consciousness Movement? . The piece was smuggled off the Island in the same year. The Nelson Mandela Foundation plans to mark the 30th anniversary of this important document in 2008. (The essay has been published in Reflections in Prison , edited by Mr Mac Maharaj, and an excerpt can be found here .)

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Steve Biko’s lessons for young black South Africans

Nelson Mandela described Steve Biko as “the spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa”. What did Mandela exactly mean by that?  The best way to answer that is of course by examining what Biko actually did, the consequences of those actions, and their relevance for contemporary South Africa.

In this article I point to five aspects of Biko’s life and work that need to be carried forward by the younger generation of South Africans as they seek to shape the future of this country in keeping with the best traditions and values of the freedom struggle.

First, it often goes unmentioned that Steve Biko was only 21 years old when he started the Black Consciousness Movement.  At the age of 22 he was the president of the South African Students Organization, and by age 25 he was an elder statesman banished to his home in Ginsberg in the Eastern Cape.  He was receiving ambassadors and political leaders from around the world at his mother’s house in Ginsberg. He had already written the prophetic essays that were later collected by his friend Aelred Stubbs and Hugh Lewin into the volume, I Write What I Like.   Many people think Biko was older than he actually was and this is because the liberation struggle is often thought of as something that was the business of older peoples such Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe and others.

Second, young as he was, Biko had an acute appreciation of the centrality of ideas to the success of any struggle. As he famously put it, “the most important weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”.  Without consciousness, your freedom and your power can be your worst enemies.  From thereon it is easy to betray your own revolution and prey on your own people.

And that takes me to the third remarkable aspect of Biko’s intervention – a new consciousness did not come out of thin air.  You needed strong cultural and intellectual institutions to produce it, which is why Biko and his comrades started the Black Community Programmes, which undertook development projects in communities throughout the country; Black Review, which conducted surveys into the state of Black communities; the Institute for Black Research under the leadership of Fatima Meer; and the magazine Staff Rider, which was where a young person in Ginsberg could share ideas with another young person in Lebowakgomo.  All of that initiative produced the Black Renaissance of the 1970’s.

The fourth point was his quest for unity among the liberation movements.   The apartheid government caught wind of a planned meeting between Biko and Tambo and set out to do everything in their power to stop it.  On 18 August 1977 Biko was caught travelling from an abortive meeting with the Unity Movement’s Neville Alexander.   After killing him, they also set out to destroy the entire cultural, intellectual and social infrastructure that gave meaning and purpose to our struggle.

They could kill Biko but they could not stop what he had set in motion.  The young people who had risen in protest against Bantu Education in 1976 and 1977 left the country in droves to join the ANC and the PAC. The infusion of energetic young people ready to take arms was the best thing to have happened to the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe.

And so the fifth and final point I want to make is that without the intervention of Black Consciousness there would have been no resumption of the liberation struggle. And yet the ANC government has not seen fit to honor this martyr with an airport or a day in his name.

The question that remains though is this- where are the cultural, intellectual and social initiatives that led to the Black Renaissance in the 1970’s?  Where do young people now go to develop their ideas about our society?  The situation in our country is not as bad as it was in the 1960’s – far from it. But there is one respect in which it remains analogous to that time- Black people are still not in charge of the production of ideas. Unless there is an infrastructure to produce ideas, Black people will forever be dependent on ideas developed in the white world.  This means we will forever consume not only ideas but products made by others, which is another way of describing powerlessness. This is a struggle of a different order from fighting for political rights and winning elections. This is the struggle for cultural-intellectual power. Without it there can be no civil society – the setting of all settings.

If Biko taught me and my generation anything, it is that only when we are free in our minds, can we be comfortable in our own skins, literally and figuratively, whether as individuals or as groups.  A nation without consciousness is a nation without priorities.  Twenty years after our freedom, we need a new conversation about what a new national consciousness might look like.

CDE XOLELA MANGCU, Ph.D. (Cornell), IS PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AT THE UIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

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Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay Guide (Question and Answers)

Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay Guide (Question and Answers) and Summary: The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.

Table of Contents

Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement Summary: A Legacy of Empowerment and Resistance

Stephen Bantu Biko , born in 1946 in South Africa, was a prominent anti-apartheid activist and leader of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) . The movement played a crucial role in the fight against apartheid by empowering black South Africans to embrace their identity, instilling pride and self-worth, and promoting resistance against the oppressive regime. This article will discuss Biko’s life, the origins and objectives of the Black Consciousness Movement, and the lasting impact of Biko’s ideas on South Africa and beyond.

Early Life and Influences

Steve Biko grew up in a society deeply divided along racial lines. From an early age, he was exposed to the harsh realities of apartheid, which inspired his lifelong commitment to fighting against racial oppression. As a student at Lovedale High School , Biko encountered the writings of Frantz Fanon , a psychiatrist and philosopher from Martinique who advocated for the liberation of colonized peoples through mental emancipation. Fanon’s ideas influenced Biko’s development of the Black Consciousness philosophy.

Formation of the Black Consciousness Movement

In 1968, Biko co-founded the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) with other like-minded black students. SASO aimed to provide a platform for black students to challenge apartheid and create a sense of unity among them. The organization became the backbone of the Black Consciousness Movement, which sought to empower black South Africans by encouraging them to embrace their identity and value their cultural heritage. By fostering a strong sense of self-worth, the BCM aimed to break down the psychological barriers imposed by apartheid.

Philosophy and Goals

Central to the Black Consciousness Movement was the idea that black South Africans needed to liberate themselves from the mental chains of apartheid. The movement emphasized the importance of self-reliance and self-determination, rejecting the notion that white people were necessary for the liberation of black South Africans. Instead, Biko and the BCM insisted that black people could achieve freedom by developing their own solutions to the problems caused by apartheid.

Biko often spoke about the need to redefine “blackness” as a positive identity, fostering pride and unity among black South Africans. He also believed that social, political, and economic empowerment were essential for the liberation of black people, and that these goals could be achieved through community-based projects and initiatives.

Arrest, Death, and Legacy

The South African government saw Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement as a significant threat to the apartheid regime. In 1973, Biko was banned from participating in political activities and confined to the Eastern Cape. Despite these restrictions, he continued to work clandestinely to advance the goals of the movement.

In August 1977, Biko was arrested, and on September 12, he died from a brain injury sustained while in police custody. His death sparked international outrage and galvanized the anti-apartheid movement, drawing global attention to the brutalities of the apartheid regime.

Today, Steve Biko is remembered as a martyr and a symbol of resistance against racial oppression. The Black Consciousness Movement played a crucial role in the fight against apartheid by empowering black South Africans to take control of their destiny. Biko’s ideas continue to inspire generations of activists worldwide, who strive for social justice and the eradication of racial inequality.

How Essays are Assessed in Grade 12

The essay will be assessed holistically (globally). This approach requires the teacher to score the overall product as a whole, without scoring the component parts separately. This approach encourages the learner to offer an individual opinion by using selected factual evidence to support an argument. The learner will not be required to simply regurgitate ‘facts’ in order to achieve a high mark. This approach discourages learners from preparing ‘model’ answers and reproducing them without taking into account the specific requirements of the question. Holistic marking of the essay credits learners’ opinions supported by evidence. Holistic assessment, unlike content-based marking, does not penalise language inadequacies as the emphasis is on the following:

• The construction of an argument
• The appropriate selection of factual evidence to support such an argument
• The learner’s interpretation of the question.

Steve Biko: Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay s Topics

Topic: the challenge of black consciousness to the apartheid state.

Introduction

K ey Definitions

• Civil protest : Opposition (usually against the current government’s policy) by ordinary citizens of a country
• Uprising : Mass action against government policy
• Bantu Homelands : Regions identified under the apartheid system as so-called homelands for different cultural and linguistic groups.
• Prohibition : order by which something may not be done; prohibit; declared illegal
• Resistance : When an individual or group of people work together against specific domination
• Exile : When someone is banished from their country

(Background)

• “South Africa as an apartheid state in 1970 to 1980
• 1978 PW Botha and launched his “Total Strategy”
• There were limited powers granted to the Colored, Indians and black township councils to ensure economic and political white supremacy
• Despite these reforms, Africans still did not gain any political rights outside their homelands
• Government’s response to violence against government reform policies – the declaration of a state of emergency in 1985:
• Banishment of the ANC and PAC to Sharpeville in 1960 – Underground Organizations
• Leaders of the Liberation Movements were in prisons or in exile
• New legislation – Terrorism Act – increases apartheid government’s power to suppress political opposition •Detention without trial – leads to the deaths of many activists
• Torture of activists in custody
• Increasing militarization within the country
• Bantu education ensures a low-paid labour force •Apartheid regime had total control
• In the late 1960s there was a new kind of resistance – The Black Consciousness Movement

( Nature and Objectives of Black Consciousness )

• In the late 1970s, a new generation of black students began to organize resistance
• Many were students at “forest college” established under the Bantu education system for black students such as the University of Zululand and the University of the North
• They accepted the Black Consciousness philosophy
• The term “black” was a direct dispute with the apartheid term “non-white”.
• “Black people” were all who were oppressed by apartheid – including Indians and coloured people

Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Questions

Question 1: how did the ideas of the black consciousness movement challenge the apartheid regime in the 1970.

How to answer and get good marks?

• Learners must use relevant evidence e.g. Uses relevant evidence that shows a thorough understanding of how the ideas of Black Consciousness challenged the apartheid regime in the 1970s .
• Learners must also use evidence very effectively in an organised paragraph that shows an understanding of the topic

When you answer, you should not ignore the following key facts where applicable:

• Black Consciousness wanted black South Africans to do things for themselves
• Black Consciousness wanted black South Africans to act independently of other races x Self-reliance promoted self-pride among black South Africans

SASO references can also be applicable (if sources are presented)

• SASO was formed to propagate the ideas of Black Consciousness
• To safeguard and promote the interests of black South Africans students
• SASO was based on the philosophy of Black Consciousness
• SASO was associated with Steve Biko
• SASO encouraged black South Africans students to be self-assertive

Question 2: How did the truth and reconciliation commision assist South Africa to come in terms with the past?

• To ensure healing and reconciliation among victims and perpetrators of political violence through confession
• The TRC encouraged the truth to be told
• Hoped to bring about forgiveness through healing
• To bring about ‘Reconciliation and National Unity’ among all South Africans
• Any other relevant response.

Download Black Consciousness Movement Grade 12 Essay Guide (Question and Answers) on pdf format

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Steve Biko Essay

People of color in general have been oppressed for a long time by oppressors, which were white men. Black people in particular were the most affected. From slavery to apartheid, black people had lost their identities. As a consequence, in South Africa, one of the most racial segregated countries in Africa, many black leaders have stand against apartheid. Steve Biko was one of them. As an activist, Steve Biko dedicated his entire life by fighting apartheid in South Africa.

The black consciousness movement he founded, his speeches and writings, and his leadership have played a significant role in fighting apartheid. The first action that Steve Biko initiated against apartheid was to found the black consciousness movement. This powerful movement empowered and mobilized black South Africans against apartheid. For instance, BCM had fought for a political self-reliance and the unification of university students in a black consciousness. Moreover, Biko and the BCM played a significant role in organizing the protests which culminated in the “Soweto uprising.

The BCM‘s philosophy influenced South African youth to change the oppressive situation by rejecting apartheid. The movement main concern was to make the black man be himself, and to infuse him with pride and dignity. It also reminded the black man of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth. In result, the BCM has rallied much of urban black population in fighting apartheid. Second, Biko’s speeches and writings played important roles in fighting apartheid.

Biko spent his entire life preaching and writing to Black South Africans. For example, he was famous for his slogan “Black is beautiful” which he described as meaning: “man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself human being”. Another of his powerful speech held at a student conference is to make the point that: “the most potent weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”. His powerful speeches and writings inspired and encouraged black people to fight for their identities.

Moreover, Biko became friend with Donald Woods, a journalist editor, who later played a key role in publishing a book about Biko’s life and history. Because of the influence of his speeches and writings, Biko was banned by the apartheid regime, and could not write publicly or speak with the media. Finally, Steve Biko was a great leader. As a student leader, he founded the BCM and, as an anti-apartheid activist, he stood against the oppressor until his death. His strong leadership has made him a martyr in South Africa after his death.

For instance, he played an important role in his community by forming a number of grassroots organizations based on the notion of self-reliance. He created a trust fund which helped support former political prisoners and their families. Another of his action was to create an education fund and to initiate some works project. Furthermore, he inspired the black community on how it is important to be self-dependant. His ideas and conviction have influenced his entire generation.

He also was one of the founders of the South African Students’ Organization (SASO), which was the beginning of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). To conclude, Steve Biko was one of the most powerful leaders of his time, and he died in martyr, fighting the apartheid regime. Steve Biko was also a community educator, a communicator and a great leader. His life and his actions had contributed to end the apartheid. He was assassinated by the apartheid regime, because of his fights. However, his ideas and conviction were successful and remained in South Africa’s history.

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