Xolela mangcu biko biography pdf free

I had several reasons for wanting to read about the South African anti-apartheid martyr, Steve Biko (). First of all, I knew little about him and the reasons for his murder by the South African security forces.

Secondly, he was born and lived in the township called Ginsberg, which is part of town of King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape, where many of my mother’s family lived. One member of her family, her grandfather, was the late Senator Franz Ginsberg (), in whose honour Biko’s township was named when it was founded in the early part of the 20th century.

Thirdly, Biko was a friend of my cousin Geoff Budlender, who, as a student-leader in Cape Town became an important white anti-apartheid activist. Finally, this particular biography was written by Xolela Mangcu who arranged for me to visit Ginsberg Township in , where I had the honour of meeting Biko’s elder brother Khaya briefly after having visited the house where Steve lived whilst under a ba