South Africa is set to reopen the inquest into the death of Steve Biko, the revered anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, nearly five decades after he died in police custody. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that the new inquest will be officially registered in court on September 12, 2025—the 48th anniversary of Biko’s death, a date that resonates deeply in the country’s struggle for justice and reconciliation.
Biko’s story is one that still stirs strong emotions, both in South Africa and abroad. Arrested at a roadblock near Grahamstown (now Makhanda) on August 18, 1977, for violating government-imposed banning orders that restricted his movement to King Williamstown (now Qonce), Biko was detained alongside his comrade Peter Jones. According to the NPA, he was then taken to Walmer Police Station in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), where he was allegedly tortured while shackled with leg irons and kept naked in a cell.
For 24 days, Biko languished in custody. Medical attention was only sought after foam was observed around his mouth—a sign that something was gravely wrong. On September 11, 1977, Biko was loaded into the back of a police Land Rover, still naked and shackled, and transported—unconscious—over 1,200 kilometers to a prison hospital in Pretoria. He died there the next day, at just 30 years old. The cause of death was declared to be extensive brain damage, acute kidney failure, and uremia.
The circumstances of Biko’s death sparked outrage and condemnation worldwide. As reported by BBC and other outlets, the 1977 inquest into his death accepted the police’s account that Biko had sustained his fatal injuries by hitting his head against a wall during a scuffle with members of the notorious Special Branch. The presiding officer, Chief Magistrate MJ Prins, exonerated both the police and the medical practitioners who had treated Biko while he was in prison. By February 1978, the then Attorney General of the Eastern Cape declined to prosecute anyone for Biko’s death.
But the story did not end there. Biko’s death became a rallying cry for the anti-apartheid movement, inspiring Peter Gabriel’s haunting anthem "Biko" and the acclaimed 1987 film Cry Freedom, in which Denzel Washington portrayed the activist. Internationally, Biko became a symbol of the struggle against South Africa’s race-based apartheid system, which denied the country’s Black majority their political and economic rights.
In 1997, two decades after Biko’s death, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) held hearings on atrocities committed during the apartheid era. Former police officers implicated in Biko’s death—including Major Harold Snyman, Captain Daniel Petrus Siebert, Captain Jacobus Johannes Oosthuysen Benecke, Warrant Officer Rubin Marx, and Sergeant Gideon Johannes Nieuwoudt—applied for amnesty. During these hearings, they admitted to assaulting Biko. However, the TRC refused to grant them amnesty, ruling that they had lied in their evidence and failed to prove a political motive for the killing. The TRC’s final report described Biko’s death on the floor of a Pretoria Central Prison cell as "naked and alone," with a post-mortem revealing extensive head trauma, brain damage, and external injuries. The medical treatment he received was later described by a Supreme Court judge as "callous, lacking any element of compassion, care or humanity."
The reopening of the inquest comes at a time when South Africa is reexamining its apartheid-era crimes, prompted by pressure from families of victims who are still seeking justice 31 years after the end of White-minority rule in 1994. According to Bloomberg, President Cyril Ramaphosa established a commission of inquiry in May 2025 to determine whether there were attempts to prevent the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. This move was in response to lawsuits brought by those impacted by the violence of that era.
The NPA, in its announcement made on September 10, 2025, stated, "The main goal of reopening the inquest is to lay before the court evidence that will enable the court to make a finding... as to whether the death was brought about by any act, or omission, which prima facie involves or amounts, to an offence on the part of any person." The reopening is supported by the legal representatives of the Biko family and follows approval by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s Minister.
This new inquest is not occurring in isolation. The NPA also revealed plans to hold an inquest into the 1993 killing of five teenagers during a South African military raid in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province. These efforts reflect a broader reckoning with the country’s past, as the nation continues to grapple with the legacy of apartheid-era abuses. The work of the TRC, established by former president Nelson Mandela in 1995, has been widely regarded as a cathartic act of national healing. To encourage testimony, the TRC granted amnesty to hundreds of participants in apartheid-era violence, but many crimes remained unresolved and only a handful of perpetrators were ever prosecuted.
For many South Africans, the reopening of the Biko inquest is both a long-awaited step towards justice and a painful reminder of how slowly the wheels of accountability can turn. The fact that the inquest is being reopened on the anniversary of Biko’s death has deep symbolic significance, serving as a reminder of both the brutality of the past and the ongoing quest for truth. As Saths Cooper, a friend and fellow anti-apartheid campaigner, reflected in an interview with BBC, Biko’s legacy continues to inspire those fighting for justice and equality today.
While the reopening of the inquest may not erase the pain of the past, it offers an opportunity for the South African legal system to confront the truth about Biko’s death and, perhaps, to provide a measure of closure for his family and supporters. The world will be watching closely as the proceedings unfold, hoping that this time, the full story of Steve Biko’s final days will finally come to light.
