Biko’s ‘legacy fading’

If he was he still alive today, Steve Biko’s selflessness would have made him demand a more accountable political landscape in South Africa, analysts said in commemoration of the Black Conscious Movement (BCM) founder’s 74th birthday on Friday.

Born on 18 December 1946, in the rural Eastern Cape town of Tarkastad, Biko was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the BCM in the late ’60s and ’70s.

As a student at the University of Natal Medical School, he led the formation of the South African Students’ Organisation and the
Black People’s Convention – spearheading the Black Consciousness (BC) philosophy that sought to challenge racial inferiority among blacks, backed by such slogans like “black is beautiful”.

With the apartheid government having regarded Biko as a subversive threat, it placed him under a banning order in 1973.

During his ban, Biko received repeated threats, was detained by security police on several occasions, with his final arrest in August 1977, when he was beaten to death.

Reflecting on his legacy, political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the ANC government failed in maintaining Biko’s legacy.

“When you think about Biko’s legacy, what he stood for and you look at the South African situation, you realise that the current leadership is pretentious,” he said.

“Although some non-governmental organisations are doing a great deal of work, government is not doing justice to Biko’s legacy.”

Nelson Mandela University political lecturer Ongama Mtimka said Biko would demand for “a more accountable political landscape in South Africa”.

Said Mtimka: “He would not shift from measuring the extent of democracy on the basis upon which black people were advancing in the country.

“The BC philosophy sought to affirm black people on their place in history and the need for them to appreciating who they are and their heritage, to be able to advance in life. Preserving Biko’s legacy would be to undertake policy and strategy that reaffirm his philosophy.”

Citing government’s policies like black economic empowerment and affirmative action he described as “an attempt to entrench
the Biko philosophy”, Mtimka said more still had to be done.

“The ANC government has made the attempt but as far as broad mass-based access to opportunities are concerned, that still remains a challenge.

“Part of what make it a challenge is that the socio-economic space in South Africa remains largely exclusive,” he said.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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