The beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa began in 1994. It began with the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. It faced the challenge of disbanding deeply embedded feelings about race. More specifically, it dealt with the complexities associated with black inferiority and white supremacy. This was reinforced by an oppressive state machinery responsible for framing various aspects of South African life including public discourse. Historically , black opinion in South Africa was suppressed and white opinion was heavily weighted.
Since 1994, an admirable trait in South Africa has been an expansion of public discourse. Never before had so many South Africans spoken so freely and openly in public platforms about the things that are happening in society. It is against this background that the Steve Biko Foundation has positioned itself as a catalyst for national reflection and critical inqury. The Foundation launched The Steve Biko Memorial Lecture in 2000 as a flagship of a broader programme, informed by the values that Biko lived and died for: restoring people to their true humanity.[1]
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12 September 2010 marked the 33rd anniversary of the murder of Steve Biko. In commemoration, the Steve Biko Foundation hosted Professor Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, in South Africa for a series of events to celebrate the life and works of Steve Biko.
The 33rd anniversary commemoration consisted of two events. The first. "An Evening with Alice Walker," took place on 7 September at the State Theatre in Pretoria. Along with readings by Professor Walker, this event featured leading South African artists. The second component was the 11th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, held at Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town on Thursday 9 September.
Since the year 2000 the lecture has been delivered by luminaries such as Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Professor Zakes Mda and former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
2011 Sir Sydney Ketridge Evil Under The Sun }
" Like all social processes, the African reawakening is a messy yet creative development, far from being subject to a body of predictive rules and regulations, nor is it reducible to a political programme."-Njabulo Ndebele[2]
"In Sesotho there is a saying: 'motjheka sidiba ha a se nwe' ('he who digs a well does not drink from it'). Only those who come after him will quench their thirst from its cool water. When the forebears formulated this adage, they had Steve Bantu Biko in mind, even as he sat in the world of pre-creation waiting to be created." - Zakes Mda [3]
" A young man with a sharp intellect and flair for organisation and leadership, Biko realised the need to raise the sagging morale of black people, to raise their consciousness and self-esteem; in his own words to 'overcome the psychological oppression of black people by whites'." -Chinua Achebe [4]
"Steve Biko, whom we have come to honour, is among this great gallery of people whose work and devotion have impacted those beyond the native shores, and which make it possible for us even to talk about the possibilities of a new Africa out of the colonial ashes of latter-day epires." - Ngugi wa Thiong'o[5]
"History from time to time, brings to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment,who cohere the wishes and inspirations of the oppressed.Such was Steve Biko,a fitting product of his time;a proud representative of the reawakening of a people."- Nelson Mandela[6]
"Bantu Stephen Biko's key contribution to the freedom we enjoy today is in freeing us from the fear of death, thus allowing us to become fully what we were created to be - agents of our own history." - Mamphela Ramphele [7]
"It is amazing to think that Steve did not have much time to propagate his teachings and in a way, by rights, should have disappeared into oblivion...He didn't have flashy car or a big house. He lived in a ghetto township. He did not even have a university degree and by rights, should have been consigned to the oblivion reserved for all non-entities. But what is the reality?" - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu [8]
"Steve Biko understood that to attain our freeddom we had to rebel against the notion that we are the problem, that we should no longer merely cry out: Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?; that we should stop looking at ourselves through the eyes of others, and measuring our souls by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." Thabo Mbeki[9]
"There cannot be any doubt that from the point of the decision to establish a Black Student movement, to every living moment until Steve's last breath on 12 September 1977, and beyond that to the elections of 27 April 1994 and indeed until today, the focus of our passions and energies has been and remains the fundamental transformation of society." Trevor Manuel[10]
| Year | Delivered by | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Professor S Ndebele | Iph'Indlela? Finding Our Way Into The Future |
| 2001 | Professor Zakes Mda | Biko's Children |
| 2002 | Professor Chinua Achebe | Fighting Apartheid with Words |
| 2003 | Ngugi wa Thiongo | Recovering our Memory: South Africa in the Black Imagination |
| 2004 | Former President Nelson Mandela | Ten Years of Democracy:1994-2004 |
| 2005 | Dr Mamphela Ramphele | Citizenship as Stewardship |
| 2006 | Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu | South Africa: A Scintillating Success Waiting to Happen |
| 2007 | Former President Thabo Mbeki | 30th Commemoration of Steve Biko's Death |
| 2008 | Trevor Manuel | Energising Democracy:Rights and Responsibilities |
| 2009 | Tito Mboweni | Reflections on Some Economic & Social Development in South Africa in the Past 15 Years |
| 2010 | Professor Alice Walker | Coming to See You Since I was Five:An American Poet's Connection to the South African Soul |