JOHANNESBURG - Today, 49 years ago, South Africa lost a man widely regarded as a son of the soil.
Steven Biko died from severe brain damage suffered from days of beatings at the hands of the apartheid police.
His legacy, however, lives on.
Those who remember him as a revolutionary leader are also reminded of his humble beginnings in the Eastern Cape.
Biko was born in Tarkastad, Eastern Cape, in 1946.
But it was in Qonce, formerly known as King Williams Town, where he touched the hearts and minds of many people through community upliftment programmes.
Lindiwe Tyamzashe-Ngcukana, a resident, said they still benefit from Biko’s efforts, years later.
"We have a clinic that has a doctor, and we stay nearby. For us it was very important. We even have a garden where locals are employed and many others received jobs at the clinic that Bantu Biko built."
Biko’s son Nkosinathi also reflected on his father.
“Time is everything in this process, for reasons we know, including age and so forth.
So, it has always mattered to us to have a process driven by rogue and the intent to account to this nation on the issue of the murder of Steve Biko.
“Just to measure time, this man (his brother Samora) was two years old when our father died.
He's the man on my mother's lap with the bottle and in tears with the picture that touched the world."