Pat Stevens

Ballad of Steve Biker Pat Stevens

Ballad of Steve Biker is the second volume of the Greatest Game series, which recounts an exciting overseas holiday of the Pack, who are friends of the central character Rupertheimer. There is the Englishman Nick Jarvis and Peter Khumalo the Zulu, along with an enigmatic Afrikaner named Hofmeyr, who has been scarred by a childhood tragedy. They travel abroad where they meet their future wives, and also come under the influence, of a mysterious motorcyclist named Steve Biker. This alter ego of the famous Steve Biko has a profound impact on the Pack, especially on young Peter Khumalo, who returns home to join the Struggle. Peter Khumalo joins up with his fiery Aunt Willie and her husband Matthew Khumalo, who leads a South African liberation group called AZIPPO, but Peter's liberation struggle ends abruptly at Rupertheimer's wedding. When a series of bizarre events culminate, in a fierce standoff with counterinsurgency forces, where freedom fighter Peter Khumalo surrenders to police Colonel Kokkenbull. So Rupertheimer's wedding ends with a message of hope, that violence will be renounced and democratic negotiations will come about, which portends the pivotal rote that Rupertheimer must play in the future transition. These inexplicable events in Rupertheimer's life seem to point the way, to the vital contribution he will make to democratic negotiations, because Rupertheimer is destined to become a key player in 1994 elections. The South African liberal press has covered this historic event extensively with hastily scrawled cover-ups, but unfortunately for the press there remain the newspaper archives, where the journalistic scepticism is starkly portrayed, Which impacted negatively on the transition to democracy, so it was indeed fortunate that Rupertheimer was there, to steer the ship South Africa to a democratic landing