GQEBERHA - The Steve Biko inquest has been halted after the Biko family secured an urgent High Court intervention.
Judge Johannes Eksteen granted the application to postpone proceedings after the family’s lawyer, Advocate Ngqiqo Sakhela, challenged an earlier decision by inquest judge Isaac Madondo to continue with the process.
The family says the pause is needed to ensure the long-running inquest is conducted properly and can meaningfully address the circumstances surrounding Biko’s death.
Advocate Dali Mpofu told the court that the Biko family has endured 49 years of trauma without accountability from security branch police believed to have been involved in the anti-apartheid activist’s death.
He argued that the family’s priority is to ensure the proceedings are effective and thorough, particularly as some of those suspected of involvement are still alive.
In his ruling, Judge Eksteen said he was persuaded in part by the fact that the application was unopposed, including by the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
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He said he was satisfied that a proper case had been made for the court to intervene.
The judgment has been welcomed by Biko’s son, Samora, who was just two years old when his father died in detention in 1977.
Samora says slowing the process down could ultimately give the inquest greater meaning and help establish what really happened to his father.
Further announcements on the future of the inquest are expected.
For now, the Biko family is preparing to mark 49 years since Steve Biko’s death on 12 September 1977, while its long-standing demand for accountability continues.
Read more: Biko family files papers to halt inquest into anti-apartheid activist's death