On this present day 45 years in the past, Stephen Bantu Biko died in police custody in Pretoria Central Prison.
Human dignity, the precept on the coronary heart of his black consciousness activism, was denied him. In the phrases of the household lawyer Sir Sydney Kentridge, his was “a miserable and lonely death on a mat on a stone floor in a prison cell”.
It stays a supply of nice sorrow all these years later to recall that Steve Biko was simply 30 years previous when he died. He was reduce down in his prime, by those that feared the facility and resonance of his concepts of self-liberation and his efforts to infuse black women and men with satisfaction and dignity.
He by no means received to see in his lifetime what he referred to as ‘the glittering prize’, the realisation of a true humanity. Writing about this very best, he famously mentioned: “In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible – a more human face.”
When we gained our freedom in 1994, we understood that the proper to vote was only one a part of our struggle for human dignity.
Twenty-eight years into our democracy, we’re confronted with many challenges, reminiscent of poverty, unemployment and inequality. As a consequence, we regularly lose sight of how far we’ve got are available giving impact to the ideas on which our Constitution is based and that anchored Steve Biko’s ideas and teachings.
In 1977 a heartless regime killed certainly one of our nation’s most promising leaders by depriving him of the meals, water and medical therapy he urgently wanted as a results of brutal beatings by the apartheid police.
Twenty years later, in a 1997 judgment, the Constitutional Court mentioned that fulfilling the basic rights of each citizen and striving to obtain their socio-economic rights is the hallmark of a democratic society aiming to salvage misplaced dignity.
In South Africa in the present day, we proceed to work to fulfil the essential rights of each South African in order that they could lead high quality lives freed from illness, starvation and deprivation.
Successive democratic administrations have carried out insurance policies to salvage the misplaced dignity of this nation’s majority by offering training, well being care, housing and fundamental providers.
In South Africa in the present day, a first rate training is a elementary proper.
The state invests in early childhood improvement, in supporting studying outcomes for our youngest residents, and supplies social reduction by faculty feeding programmes to guarantee younger learners obtain the very best outcomes doable.
Through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and numerous different types of state help, 1000’s of younger South Africans from poor backgrounds have been in a position to turn into docs, attorneys, academics, scientists, artisans and entrepreneurs.
The authorities helps poor and weak residents by an intensive social security web and supplies work alternatives by mass public employment programmes.
In the repressive South Africa through which Steve Biko died, freedom of speech was curtailed and political activism attracted detention or worse.
In South Africa in the present day, younger folks of the identical age as Steve Biko was and even youthful are on the forefront of activism for causes closest to them, and they’re in a position to organise freed from harassment or banishment. Freedom of speech and affiliation, the proper to protest and the proper to equality earlier than the legislation is upheld for all.
As a nation, we’ve got come a great distance in direction of the fulfilment of human dignity, the precept that Steve Biko so cherished. Yet, we nonetheless have a lot additional to go.
Without a job, with out a home, electrical energy or operating water, with out land, with out abilities or alternatives, tens of millions of South Africans are nonetheless disadvantaged of the lives they search and deserve.
That is why authorities is working with social companions to construct an inclusive economic system, create employment, allow companies to thrive and sort out poverty and starvation.
In contemplating the relevance of Steve Biko’s life and legacy, we recall his highly effective name to the folks to be architects of their very own liberation. This name is as vital now because it was again then.
We have to be targeted on addressing our challenges to obtain a really free and equal society. We every want to play our half through the use of the foundational rights in our Constitution to construct a South Africa freed from poverty and starvation, underdevelopment, crime and violence.
As Steve Biko urged, allow us to march forth with braveness and dedication on our widespread quest for true humanity.
