Steve Biko - The fatal blow

Moments in South African History

The Truth Commission was a bitter pill to swallow for the family of black consciousness leader Steve Bantu Biko. But it was even harder for them to accept when five former security policemen applied for amnesty in 1997 for "causing" Biko's death 20 years earlier. It seemed as if Biko's killers would finally tell the truth about how he suffered brain damage and died in detention. But when they appeared before the Amnesty Committee in September and December 1997, they again denied "killing" Biko. Harold Snyman, Daantjie Siebert, Rubin Marx, Johan Beneke and Gideon Nieuwoudt maintained that Biko's death was an "accident" for which he had been partly responsible. Darren Taylor Zola Ntutu and report.

Credits: Angie Kapelianis, Darren Taylor, Zola Ntutu, Sally Burdett and Danny Booysen.

Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/worldsright.htm#fatal

From the series South Africa's Human Spirit. Available wherever you find your podcasts.

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