THE LOWLY NEWSPAPER MAN: Biko inquest delay deepens drift towards collective amnesia about apartheid horrors

We live in an angry nation that has not fully come to terms with the trauma of our past. The governors of our land are not aiding the healing by trying to sweep the past under the carpet.

Just under three weeks before the 49th anniversary of the murder of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, an indignity was visited on his memory.

At the start of the inquest into the death of Biko at the hands of the security police, the family had to haggle with the state for funding for representation. The reason: Legal South Africa, the state entity entrusted with ensuring access to justice for all citizens, had determined that Biko’s widow, Ntsiki, did not qualify for assistance.

They had applied the means test and concluded that her income and assets ruled her out. So a cold bureaucratic process had been applied to the search for the truth about the brutal assassination of one of the nation’s most iconic leaders. In essence, her request for assistance was treated no differently from that of an alleged shoplifter, car thief or murder accused appearing in our overburdened courts.

The situation was rescued at the 11th hour by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi, whose directive that her department would cover the costs arrived during the demeaning arguments. It was the appropriate thing to do since it was she who said, when announcing the inquest last year, that “this decision reaffirms government’s commitment to upholding the rule of law, promoting accountability, and pursuing justice for families affected by deaths that still demand clarity and resolution”.

Judge Isaac Madondo, the retired jurist overseeing the inquest, was scathing about how the authorities were just treating this as an ordinary matter. Biko’s son Nkosinathi, visibly drained by the day’s proceedings, spoke about how “undignified” it had been to have spent the day haggling over resources. He added that he was so relieved that his mother was not there, revealing that “I deliberately kept her away from that kind of conversation. She bears no burden for the attainment of justice for the death of her husband.”

Nearly 50 years after an apartheid-era inquest found that Biko’s death was not the result of “any act or omission involving an offence by any person” we were at a moment when truth was at the doorstep and small-mindedness got in the way. It was a small delay but it was hugely significant because it reflected just how this country is refusing to deal with its past. There seems to be a disease spreading in the country that apartheid and its horrors happened a long time ago and that we should not seek answers today.

The Biko inquest matter is just one of these grave steps on the road to collective amnesia. Overshadowed by the Madlanga Commission that is exposing the nexus between politics, law enforcement and organised crime is the Khampepe Commission into the alleged suppression of prosecution of apartheid-era crimes by the democratic government.