Enrolment inquest marks 48th anniversary of Steve Biko's death

Original inquest exonerated Special Branch members and doctors

September 12, 2025, marks exactly 48 years since the death of anti-apartheid activist and Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) founder and leader Stephen Bantu Biko. 

Biko died on this day in 1977 after being allegedly tortured by Special Branch (SB) police while in custody.

The commemoration of his death days after the state on Wednesday said it will enrol the reopening of the inquest into his death at the high court in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, on Friday.

The reopening of the inquest follows justice and constitutional development minister’s approval of the national director of public prosecutions’ request, which was supported by the legal representatives of the Biko family.

NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said on Wednesday the main goal of reopening the inquest was to lay before the court evidence that will enable it to make a finding, in terms of the Inquests Act, whether the death was brought about by any act or omission, which amounts to an offence on the part of any person.

Tyali said the original inquest held in November 1977 exonerated both Special Branch (SB) members who allegedly tortured Biko and medical practitioners who treated him.

Biko was arrested with his comrade, Peter Jones, at a roadblock near Grahamstown (now Makhanda) on August 18 1977. He had violated his banning orders, which restricted his movement to King Williamstown, now known as Qonce. He was taken to Walmer police station in Gqeberha, where he was allegedly tortured while shackled with leg irons and kept naked in a cell.

It was only after 24 days in custody that medical assistance was sought for him, after “foam” was noted around his mouth. On September 11 1977, Biko was loaded unconscious, still naked and shackled, into the back of a police Land Rover, and transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria – 1,200km away.

He died outside a Pretoria hospital on September 12 , aged only 30.

The cause of Biko’s death was recorded as extensive brain injury caused by centralisation of blood circulation and intravascular blood coagulation, acute kidney failure and uremia. “A formal inquest was held in November 1977. The version of his captors and interrogators of the notorious police SB members at that inquest was that he had sustained his injuries when he banged his head against a wall,” Tyali said.

Chief magistrate MJ Prins accepted the version of the SB members and found that Biko sustained the injuries during a scuffle with them. Prins also exonerated the medical practitioners who treated Biko while in prison. On February 2 1978, the then attorney-general of the Eastern Cape declined to prosecute anyone for Biko’s death.

During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) sitting in 1997, former senior SB officers from Gqeberha, Maj Harold Snyman, Capts Daniel Petrus Siebert and Jacobus Johannes Oosthuysen Benecke, W/O Rubin Marx, and Sgt Gideon Johannes Nieuwoudt applied for amnesty in relation to Biko’s death.

Their version was that Biko had attacked one of their colleagues with a chair after he sat down without asking permission. In the ensuing scuffle to restrain him, Biko hit his head against the wall, they claimed. They admitted that they colluded and fabricated their versions, submitting false affidavits during the initial investigation into the death.

The TRC refused all five of them amnesty because their evidence was contradictory, and disclosed no political motive. “The NPA and its partners will continue their efforts to address the atrocities of the past and assist in providing closure to the Biko family and society at large,” Tyali said. – TimesLIVE