How Helen Zille’s Investigation Exposed the Savage Beating That Killed Steve Biko and Revealed the True Face of the Regime
The Lie That Shook Apartheid:
In 1977, the apartheid government told the world that Steve Biko had died after a hunger strike. A simple story. A convenient lie.
But the truth was horrific.
Biko had been brutally assaulted by security police, left with massive head injuries, chained, transported naked for hundreds of kilometres, and denied proper medical care. He didn’t die by accident. He was beaten to death by a system built on violence.
One young journalist refused to accept the state’s version.
Helen Zille, then a reporter at the Rand Daily Mail, investigated the case, spoke to doctors, studied records, and exposed that Biko’s injuries were consistent with savage police brutality — not starvation. Her reporting shattered the official cover-up and forced the world to confront what really happened inside apartheid prisons.
At a time when telling the truth could get you banned, jailed, or killed, she chose courage over silence.
Steve Biko was murdered.
The regime lied.
And the truth broke through.
🕯️ Never forget. Never rewrite history.