Читать книгу Biko: A Biography - Xolela Mangcu - Страница 4

A Tribute to Stephen Bantu Biko

BY NELSON MANDELA[1]

On 12 September 25 years ago, the 31-year-old Steve Biko’s life came to an end. His life was extinguished with more callousness and casualness than a person snuffing out a candle flame between calloused thumb and forefinger.

Living, he was the spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa. His message to the youth and students was simple and clear: Black is Beautiful! Be proud of your Blackness! And with that he inspired our youth to shed themselves of the sense of inferiority they were born into as a result of more than three centuries of white rule.

Assert yourselves and be self-reliant! With that he ignited a passion in the youth and they walked tall.

I never had the opportunity to meet him. From prison we followed his exploits and closely followed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement.

Well before they murdered him in detention, I realised that his stride was leaving indelible footprints in the struggles of our people against apartheid rule. In his short life he achieved what many would need a lifetime to accomplish.

We know today that when, in the life of a nation, the time comes for an idea, nothing – not even murder – can kill the idea.

All the information we collected about Steve pointed in one direction: he was an engaging young man who thought deeply and acted with conviction. He lived for freedom and was infused with a zest for life.

He understood that an enslaved people through their actions make freedom. He was focused on how to get our people into action, on how we could achieve freedom.

He forged a space in the midst of repression and saw the inexorable logic that the forces he was helping mobilise had to become part of the liberation forces.

He was arrested while he was busy going around the country consulting with a broad spectrum of people, gathered in different pockets of resistance. He was quietly preparing for a clandestine meeting he was due to hold with Oliver Tambo, the President of the ANC.

It now appears certain that the apartheid regime got wind of this. Whether his death came from an accidental blow or not, they had to kill him to prolong the life of apartheid. The very thought of a link-up between the ANC and the Black Consciousness Movement was unthinkable to the apartheid government.

As he grappled with the question of how to achieve freedom, he showed one of his strongest qualities – an ability to confront reality, to grow and develop ideas and continually broaden his outlook.

Today there are those who claim validity for their ideas by claiming a lineage to Steve Biko. To live with Steve’s ideas they need to live out this singular ability of Steve, to adapt and grow and display the courage that belongs to leadership.

Steve lives on in the galaxy of brave and courageous leaders who helped shape democratic South Africa. May we never cease celebrating his life!

NELSON MANDELA

[1]Reprinted with permission from the Nelson Mandela Foundation. An edited version was published in 2002 as part of a Steve Biko supplement that Xolela Mangcu edited for the Steve Biko Foundation.