South Africa will open a new inquest into the 1977 death in police custody of anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, state prosecutors said Wednesday. The inquest will be officially registered in court on Friday, the anniversary of Biko's death.
The National Prosecuting Authority said the step, coming 48 years after Biko's death, is intended "to address the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the Biko family and society at large." Biko, a leading figure in the Black Consciousness Movement, was arrested in August 1977 near Grahamstown and died in custody in September at age 30. The death was originally recorded as brain injuries and kidney failure.
Biko was allegedly beaten and tortured while held shackled and naked by the apartheid-era Special Branch at a local police station and later at police headquarters. After more than 20 days in custody, prosecutors say he was loaded unconscious into a police vehicle on Sept. 11, 1977, and driven more than 1,000 kilometers to a prison hospital in Pretoria, where he died the next day in a cell still shackled.
An inquest held later that year concluded Biko had banged his head in a scuffle with police officers, a finding widely dismissed as a cover-up by activists, scholars and members of his family. Dozens of anti-apartheid activists who died in custody during apartheid faced similar inquests at the time, and those proceedings often exonerated security forces.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate abuses under the racial segregation regime. The commission granted amnesty to some perpetrators who fully disclosed politically motivated crimes, but many accused of killings and other atrocities were neither prosecuted nor granted amnesty. Successive post-apartheid governments have faced criticism for failing to pursue many of those cases.
In recent years, however, authorities have opened new inquests into several high-profile deaths from the apartheid era. These include the 1967 death of Nobel laureate Albert Luthuli, the 1981 killing of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge and the 1985 deaths of four activists known as the Cradock Four. A new inquest into the Cradock Four opened in June; the police officers implicated in that case have since died without being prosecuted.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced an inquiry into allegations that investigations into apartheid-era crimes were intentionally blocked, part of a broader effort to revisit unresolved cases. It is not clear whether any of the officers implicated in Biko's treatment and death are still alive.
Biko's death resonated internationally and inspired cultural works that helped draw global attention to apartheid-era abuses. Musician Peter Gabriel wrote a song that became associated with Biko, and the 1987 film "Cry Freedom" featured actor Denzel Washington portraying him.
Prosecutors said the upcoming inquest will seek to re-examine evidence and circumstances surrounding Biko's detention and death. The move follows calls from activists and family members for formal judicial scrutiny to provide answers and, where possible, accountability for actions taken during the apartheid era.