Victor Mecoamere

Victor Mecoamere

Several seasoned artists are due to honour the Black Consciousness Movement icon Steve Biko with two poetry sessions at Newtown in Johannesburg next weekend.

The show, which is organised by the Steve Biko 30th Anniversary Committee, will be performed by an ensemble called Jazz Poets.

Reference committee member and projects spokesman, Maishe Maponya, said the show was one of several celebratory and commemorative events that sought to "ensure the legacy of this great mind and son of the soil remains alive".

The Jazz Poets show is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, August 24 and 25, starting at 8pm, and will use celebrated poet Mongane Wally Serote's epic work, Time Has Run Out, as an inspirational backdrop.

Other planned events to celebrate and commemorate Biko include a special opera presentation aptly-named "Opera Biko", a Joy of Jazz series-linked show in Johannesburg on August 23 and 24, and The Cell and Roadmap projects in September.

Maponya said: "The opera re-enacts Biko's detention at Walmer police station in Eastern Cape, his interrogation and torture at security police headquarters in the nearby Sanlam Building and how he was transported naked to Pretoria.

"Thirty runners will carry a flaming torch along the 30km from the Sanlam Building, retracing the route travelled by that police van 30 years ago.

"Another 30 athletes will be positioned 30km away from Pretoria from where they will carry the torch to the Central Prison on September 12," Maponya said.