Bantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist.
In 1977, Biko broke his banning order by travelling to Cape Town, hoping to meet Unity Movement leader Neville Alexander and deal with growing dissent in the Western Cape branch of the BCM, which was dominated by Marxists like Johnny Issel. Biko drove to the city with his friend Peter Jones on 17 August, but Alexander refused to meet with Biko, fearing that he was being monitored by the police. Biko and Jones drove back toward King William’s Town, but on 18 August they were stopped at a police roadblock near Grahamstown. Biko was arrested for having violated the order restricting him to King William’s Town. Unsubstantiated claims have been made that the security services were aware of Biko’s trip to Cape Town and that the roadblock had been erected to catch him. Jones was also arrested at the roadblock; he was subsequently held without trial for 533 days, during which time he was interrogated on numerous occasions.
The security services took Biko to the Walmer police station in Port Elizabeth, where he was held naked in a cell with his legs in shackles. On 6 September, he was transferred from Walmer to room 619 of the security police headquarters in the Sanlam Building in central Port Elizabeth, where he was interrogated for 22 hours, handcuffed and in shackles, and chained to a grille. Exactly what happened has never been ascertained, but during the interrogation, he was severely beaten by at least one of the ten security police officers.[135] He suffered three brain lesions that resulted in a massive brain haemorrhage on 6 September.[136] Following this incident, Biko’s captors forced him to remain standing and shackled to the wall. The police later said that Biko had attacked one of them with a chair, forcing them to subdue him and place him in handcuffs and leg irons.
Biko was examined by a doctor, Ivor Lang, who stated that there was no evidence of injury on Biko. Later scholarship has suggested Biko’s injuries must have been obvious. He was then examined by two other doctors who, after a test showed blood cells to have entered Biko’s spinal fluid, agreed that he should be transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria. On 11 September, police loaded him into the back of a Land Rover, naked and manacled, and drove him 740 miles (1,190 km) to the hospital. There, Biko died alone in a cell on 12 September 1977.
Peter Gabriel-Biko
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo, kophalal’igazi!
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo, kophalal’igazi!
Bakhala uVorster!
Bakhala uVorster!
Ngomhla sibuyayo, kophalal’igazi!
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo
Ngomhla sibuyayo, kophalal’igazi!
September ’77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
The man is dead
The man is dead
When I try and sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
The man is dead
The man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla moja, yihla moja
The man is dead
The man is dead
And the eyes of the world
Are watching now
Watching now
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
Senzeni na? Senzeni na?
sources
History of Sorts 
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