Nearly five decades after Steve Bantu Biko died in police custody, the question that has haunted South Africa for generations is back before the courts. The reopened inquest into his death got underway at the Gqeberha High Court in August 2026, after years of delay over funding and legal representation for the surviving persons of interest.

Who killed Steve Biko?

It is a question South Africans have been asking since 1977, when the original inquest accepted the police’s account that Biko had been injured in a scuffle. Nearly fifty years later, that account is finally being tested again, and this time with the goal of establishing whether anyone should be held accountable for his death.

A Thinker Ahead of His Time

Long before the courts took up his case again, Biko had already secured his place as one of South Africa’s great political thinkers, a man who gave a sharp new edge to the fight against apartheid and to the question of what liberation should really mean. He fought for his ideals until the very end, and that voice lives on in books published by the HSRC Press:

• Voices of Liberation: Steve Biko by Derek Hook
• Biko by Mabogo Percy More
• Biko’s Edge by Tendayi Sithole

Together, they these books trace the arc of his ideas: how he thought, why he thought the way he did, and how his philosophy of Black Consciousness is still relevant to thinking about identity, dignity, and resistance today.

A revolutionary in every sense of the word, Biko left an indelible mark on South Africa’s political and social landscape, one that continues to shape and inspire new generations of young radical thinkers.

Marking the Anniversary

With the anniversary of his death on 12 September 1977, and as the inquest proceedings continue, there is no better moment to revisit the books that capture what Biko stood for and what his legacy continues to demand of South Africa. Explore our full collection of professionally researched and curated titles here.