The reopened inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist and Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) founder and leader, Stephen Bantu Biko, has been adjourned to January 30 for further case management and finalisation of legal funding for two apartheid-era policemen.
The prosecution told the Gqeberha high court on Wednesday that there were two people of interest in the matter who are still alive.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the two former police officers had applied for the state to fund their legal representation, which has to be confirmed before the inquest proceeds.
Biko died on September 12 1977 after he was tortured by members of the apartheid regime’s notorious Special Branch, who were never prosecuted because they were cleared by a whitewash inquest.
They were also not granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the dispensation of the democratic government in South Africa.
Tyali also said the inquest into the killing of five children by the South African Defence Force in 1993 was postponed by the Mthatha high court on Wednesday to November 24, also for case management.
Tyali said the inquests followed the minister of justice’s approval of the national director of public prosecutions’ requests.
“The main goal of holding them is to lay before the court evidence that will enable the court to make a finding in terms of the Inquests Act as to whether the deaths were brought about by any act, or omission, which prima facie involves or amounts, to an offence on the part of any person,” Tyali said.
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