I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

It is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the oppressed. Such was Steve Biko, a fitting product of his time; a proud representative of the re-awakening of a people.

It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.

Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way. Universal suffrage on a common voters' roll in a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.

Out of the experience of extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.

The death sentence is a barbaric act . . . It is a reflection of the animal instinct still in human beings.