Tafelberg Short: I remember Steve Biko

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Xolela Mangcu. Tafelberg Short: I remember Steve Biko

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I Remember Steve Biko

By Xolela Mangcu

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Over the next two weeks our little township became the focus of the world. Hundreds of people from all over the country and from all over the globe descended on Ginsberg to hold a vigil at the Biko home in Leightonville. Every night I escaped my mother’s watchful eye to listen to the fiery speeches and the freedom songs. By this time I knew the songs by heart, for I had grown beyond my years. My brother, who was a friend of Steve’s, would later tell me that Steve would compose some of these songs by simply taking popular Bible hymns and replacing them with revolutionary lyrics.

Whatever their authorship, these revolutionary songs became our heritage. The people at Steve’s home sang them as if they were singing from the same hymnal sheet, with a fervour similar to that described by Pityana.

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