Biko, Black Consciousness, and ‘the System’ eZinyoka: Oral History and Black Consciousness in Practice in a Rural Ciskei Village

Abstract

ABSTRACT Part of a larger research project on the community development programmes of the Black Consciousness movement (1969–1977), this article focuses on the relationship between the Zanempilo Community Health Centre and the people of Zinyoka, the village where Zanempilo operated. The article begins with an overview of community work within the Black Consciousness movement and the formation of the Black Community Programmes (BCP) organisation. It then follows Steve Biko to King William's Town, where he established a branch of the BCP. The article turns to Zinyoka as it explains why and when Zanempilo was built there and analyses its influence on the community. Drawing upon oral history interviews of Zinyoka residents and BCP employees, it argues that Black Consciousness action in the form of the clinic physically and economically improved Zinyoka, if only temporarily, and instilled a sense of human dignity in the residents. Situating this story in Zinyoka brings into relief the dynamics of Ciskei politics in the village in the 1970s and the role of the apartheid ‘system’, a landed, educated black class and the church. It adds to our understanding of the Black Consciousness movement as it demonstrates that oral history and the history of grassroots movements is important to liberation movement historiography.