On this day 28 January, 1997- Rubin Marx one of the four apartheid-era police officers, including police Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) admitted their role in the 1977 killing of Steve Biko, the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Biko was arrested on the outskirts of the Eastern Cape town of Graham's town on 18 August 1977 and taken to apartheid security police headquarters in Port Elizabeth. He was accused of writing inflammatory pamphlets and "inciting unrest" in the black community. While he was in police custody in Port Elizabeth, Biko was badly beaten then driven 700 miles to Pretoria, where he was thrown into a cell. On September 12, 1977, he died naked and shackled on the filthy floor of a police hospital. SOUND COURTESY OF THE SABC RADIO ARCHIVES.Take part on the feature every week day between 6:20 and 6:40 am on SAfm, South Africa's news and information leader, from 104 to 107 Fm

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28 January 1997: Apartheid police officers admit to killing of Biko before TRC

That is the voice of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize. 

On this day, the 31st of October 1995, Nigerian political activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa is one of eight people sentenced to death for the death of four Ogoni leaders.

Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping.

Initially as spokesperson, and then as president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.

At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha

That is the voice of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize. On this day, the 31st of October 1995, Nigerian political activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa is one of eight people sentenced to death for the death of four Ogoni leaders. Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as spokesperson, and then as president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha

1995 Nigerian Activist Ken Saro-Wiwa sentenced to death over rights of Ogoniland

On this day, the 6th of September 1966, Parliamentarian Service Officer Dimitri Tsafendas stabbed to death the architect of apartheid Prime Hendrik F. Verwoed. A prior attempt on his life since becoming Prime Minister was on the 9 April 1961, at the Rand Easter Show, where he was shot twice in the face.

Verwoed was sitting at his desk in the House of Assembly when Tsafendas attacked him with a knife. During his trial, Tsafendas claimed that a giant tapeworm inside of him had instructed him to kill the Prime Minister. He escaped the death sentence after being declared insane by state psychiatrists. He was sentenced to solitary confinement at the Pretoria Central Prison, where he died at the age of 81. Members of the Greek community in Krugersdorp buried him.

On this day, the 6th of September 1966, Parliamentarian Service Officer Dimitri Tsafendas stabbed to death the architect of apartheid Prime Hendrik F. Verwoed. A prior attempt on his life since becoming Prime Minister was on the 9 April 1961, at the Rand Easter Show, where he was shot twice in the face. Verwoed was sitting at his desk in the House of Assembly when Tsafendas attacked him with a knife. During his trial, Tsafendas claimed that a giant tapeworm inside of him had instructed him to kill the Prime Minister. He escaped the death sentence after being declared insane by state psychiatrists. He was sentenced to solitary confinement at the Pretoria Central Prison, where he died at the age of 81. Members of the Greek community in Krugersdorp buried him.

1966 Dimitri Tsafendas stabbed architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoed to death

That was the voice of former South African Prime Minister, P.W. Botha who on this day the 5th of September 1984 was unanimously elected by 88 members of the Electoral College to the office of first executive president. This was a newly created position after the new constitution came into force in 1984. The constitution further created three houses of parliament, namely the House of Assembly for Whites, the House of Representatives for Coloureds, and House of Delegates for Indians with the president presiding over them. Botha held the position until he resigned in 1989. Black South Africans were not happy with these new developments as they viewed the new constitution as a means to enhance apartheid.

28 January 1997: Apartheid police officers admit to killing of Biko before TRC

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