South African prosecutors have confirmed plans to reopen an inquest into the 1977 death of anti-apartheid icon Steve Biko. The case, to be officially registered in court on Friday, comes nearly 48 years after Biko died in police custody under circumstances long regarded as suspicious.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) explained that the decision is part of a wider effort to revisit unresolved cases of activists who died in detention during apartheid. “This move seeks to address the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the Biko family and society at large,” the agency stated.
Biko, who led the Black Consciousness Movement, emerged in the 1960s as a powerful voice against apartheid’s racial segregation. Arrested in August 1977 near Grahamstown, he was reportedly tortured, shackled, and kept naked by the apartheid Special Branch. On September 11, after more than three weeks in custody, he was transported unconscious over 1,000 kilometres to a prison hospital in Pretoria. He died the following day at just 30 years old, with severe brain trauma and kidney failure recorded among his injuries.
An inquest later that year concluded that he had struck his head against a cell wall during a scuffle — a finding widely condemned as a cover-up. His case became a symbol of both state brutality and the failure of justice under apartheid.
Biko’s death is one of many examples of how security forces escaped accountability for abuses. Dozens of activists perished in detention, yet official inquests at the time consistently absolved the police. Although South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1994 shed light on these crimes and granted amnesty to some perpetrators, only a handful were ever prosecuted. President Cyril Ramaphosa has since ordered inquiries into allegations that successive governments actively obstructed follow-up investigations.
In recent years, prosecutors have revived several high-profile cases. These include new inquests into the 1967 death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Luthuli, the 1981 murder of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge, and the 1985 killings of the “Cradock Four,” a group of activists tortured and murdered by security forces. The Cradock Four inquest resumed in June, though all the implicated officers have since died. It remains uncertain whether any of those linked to Biko’s death are still alive to face possible prosecution.
Despite his short life, Steve Biko’s influence has endured globally. His activism inspired music, literature, and film, including Peter Gabriel’s protest anthem Biko and the acclaimed 1987 film Cry Freedom starring Denzel Washington. The reopening of his inquest represents not only a chance for overdue accountability but also an opportunity for South Africa to confront one of the darkest chapters of its past with honesty and justice.
