When Steve Biko was found dead on a cold cement floor in a Pretoria prison, police claimed that he died of hunger strike. The following investigation failed to produce concrete evidence and was officially closed on 17 May 1978.It was only in 1985 that the real circumstances surrounding Biko’s death were officially revealed and the people involved brought to book, including the police officers that assaulted him and the two doctors who treated him just before his death.
eventREF E-0095630Revised
17 May 1978
South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko
- Updated
- 17 May 2021
How we know this
- 01SAHO Biko, Stephen Bantu, [online], Available at: www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed on 9 May 2013]
- 02News 24, How Biko died, [online] Available at: www.news24.com [Accessed on 9 May 2013]
Last updated · 17 May 2021
South African History Online. (2013, May 10). South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095630
South African History Online (2013) 'South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko', South African History Online, 10 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095630 (Accessed: 14 October 2026).
South African History Online, South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095630, (accessed 14 October 2026).
"South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko." South African History Online, 10 May 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095630. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.
South African History Online. "South African police close the investigation into the death of Steve Biko." South African History Online. May 10, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095630.
Also on 17 May
- 1954Michael “Muis” Roberts, South Africa’s best jockey is born
- 1962Steytler launches a nationwide protest campaign against the General Laws Amendment Bill
- 1971Melrose House opens as a Museum
- 1973Maggie Laubser, SA painter and winner of several awards, dies
- 1977A Whites-only referendum in SWA gives a support on Black majority.
- 1995The TRC is set up by parliament
- 1997SA politician Roelf Meyer resigns.
- 2011World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
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