Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO)

Following the murder of Steve Bantu Biko in detention in 1977, the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), like the legendary phoenix, emerged from the ashes and cinders of the Black People’s Convention (B.P.C.), South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) and Black Community Programmes (B.C.P.) – some of the black consciousness organisations forming the Black Consciousness Movement – that were banned on Wednesday, 19th October 1977 for their role in the liberation struggle and the June 16, 1976 uprisings.

Formed in April 1978, as a direct successor to the BPC and the founding organisation of the Black Consciousness Movement SASO, AZAPO continued and escalated the mission of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) by propagating Black Consciousness and organising Black people to be a fighting force for their liberation.