Drama House.

Steve Biko was a student at Natal University studying medicine. But he was also a black leader who believed that through the work and ideas of the "Black Consciousness" movement there was a peaceful way to true integration in South Africa. His ideas and abilities were apparently too dangerous for the white South African Government to allow him to go on living - for he died, accidentally so it seemed, in the custody of the Security Police. A healthy young man was reduced in a few days to being semi-conscious with massive brain damage, urinating in his own bed, and was eventually allowed to die.

But Steve Biko was too important a person for his death to be overlooked and forgotten. Consequently there was an official inquest. The play The Biko Inquest is a straight portrayal of the actual inquest using the official transcript, though of course in a very much abridged form. Its aim is to portray the truth about Biko's death, and more importantly, to portray the nature and extent of the oppression Black South Africa suffers under.

Inquest Inevitably Futile

In form the inquest seemed fair. Biko's family was represented and the play revolves around the grilling their lawyer gives various witnesses. But no matter how blatant the inconsistencies and half truths were, it became increasingly obvious that there was no way culpibility on behalf of the Security Police was going to be proved.

The most frightening aspect of the play was perhaps the arrogant power of the Security Police. Goosen, head of Security Police in Port Elizabeth, was freely able to state that he considered himself above the restraints of statutes. In other words, as far as detainees were concerned, his word was law. He didn't even have to present a watertight case to the court as the only witnesses to what really happened were his own men.

Perhaps the saddest thing conveyed by The Biko Inquest is not the fact of' the nature of Biko's death, but the way in which the oppressive machinery degrades humanity in general, the oppressed and the oppressor.

The doctors who checked Biko during his detention prior to his death were more willing to make themselves look like incompetent fools than to stand up for the truth, or reveal the pressure they were under. Even the Security Police can be pitied in their exhibition of blatant hypocrisy and lack of any feeling for the dignity of a fellow human. The South African political and social system must be rotten indeed if it can produce people who can live easily with such injustice and degradation.

Success Stands on Dialogue

The Biko Inquest is the first production by this years class of Drama II students. As such it was only a reading and not a fully fledged production so it doesn't really seem fair to say much about the actual quality of performance; although it can't be ignored. The play is constructed from the transcript of the actual inquest, so there is next to no action and a great deal of dialogue. It could easily have been dull and boring. The stark set presented no relief and the onus was well and truly on the actors to make the courtroom come alive and crackle with the conflict of wills. This they did indeed do, and I think it is to their credit. The three security policemen were especially good. They stonewalled their way through the inquest and the actors' faces had the same hardness.

Shuddering Finish

But even if you ho-hummed through the inquest itself, the climax at the play's end was made to shake you up. The names of those known to have died in the custody of the Security Police, like Biko, were readout methodically and coolly. As name piled on name, the enormity of the wrong was brought home.

The Biko Inquest will be performed again this week. See below, or phone 859-246 for details. Maybe not an entertaining evening, but a must for those still unsure about the Springbok tour; indeed, a must for us all.

Andrew McCallum