He was killed on 12 September 1977…
South Africa remembers Black Consciousness Movement leader and thinker Stephen Bantu Biko. Biko would be 71 years this December had Apartheid police not killed him.
Biko died after he suffered massive brain injuries after cops applied force on his head, hitting him against walls, tables and the floor.
#TodayInHistory – 1977: Steve Biko died, naked on a mat on a stone floor in a prison cell at Pretoria prison, beaten by police #Biko40Years pic.twitter.com/TJ3nZPQtPL
— SteveBikoFoundation (@BikoFoundation) September 12, 2017
At Walmer Police Station Steve was kept naked and manacled for 20 days before being transferred to the notorious Sanlam Building in Port Elizabeth and then to Pretoria where he died.
Biko’s biographer Xolela Mangcu said Biko suffered real brain injury between 6 and 7 September 2017 “occasioned by the application of force to his head” before his death on the 12th of September.
https://twitter.com/CoolooAfrica/status/907629730563796993
The announcement of Biko’s death by the South African government the next day sparked international and national protests, with the government saying he had died of hunger strike.
But evidence later showed Biko was murdered by cops.
Biko had five children at the time of his death – Hlumelo, Samora, Lerato, Motlatsi and Nkosinathi Biko and was married to Ntsiki Mashalaba-Biko.
(edited by ZK)
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