Overview
- The Gqeberha High Court granted the Biko family’s urgent application to temporarily halt the reopened inquest into Steve Biko’s 1977 death.
- Judge Johannes Eksteen overturned the sitting inquest judge’s refusal to postpone and ordered the temporary stop while the family obtains and verifies archival material.
- The family asked for original affidavits from the 1977 inquest and Truth and Reconciliation Commission records, and requested Afrikaans documents be translated into English to prepare accurate cross-examinations.
- Family lawyers, led by Sakhela Ngqiqo, placed an affidavit before the court and the judge required that all parties be properly served and consulted before the matter is heard further.
- The Biko family plans to centralize records at the Steve Biko Foundation through a data centre and has approached institutions with TRC archives, while the inquest’s resumption now depends on document retrieval, translation and procedural compliance.