JOHANNESBURG – Today marks the 39th year since Steve Biko was murdered in Pretoria Prison now known as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre. The brutality of his death still has those who knew him and believed in his leadership tormented till today.
It is however still a question to me as to how much do the South African millennials know about this man, about what he stood for and his contribution towards an education of a black child in the South African Universities.
To some, the man behind the name “Steve Biko” is the man who paved the way to youth leadership, to standing up to beliefs and to owning your ideas regardless of the skin colour. To some, the name is one of an activist who fought against apartheid, and some the name means nothing at all.
To those who know the name, we saw his spirit in the #FeesMustFall campaign which erupted late last last year, where university students across the country demanded free education at all higher learning institutions.
Some of the students might have been oblivious to the fact that their movement was similar to that of Biko who was a diplomatic negotiator, student politician who believed in nothing more than empowering of black students.
Today we (millennials) owe it up to the liberation hero to be great, to own up our ideas and to never be scared to voice out our opinions.
“It is better to die for an idea that will live than to live for an idea that will die,” – Steve Biko.
