Bennie Khoapa was a social work

Social work

Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

er in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 during the 1960s and 1970s involved in the resistance to apartheid. He worked for the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and was supportive of the young activists of the time, especially the young Steve Biko

Steve Biko

Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...

. At various functions that Khoapa put on in conjunction with the YMCA, Biko convinced Khoapa to join him in founding the Black Community Programmes, and ultimately the Black Consciousness Movement

Black Consciousness Movement

The Black Consciousness Movement was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in...

 (BCM). In the movement, Khoapa was able to use his experience and connections to garner the support of various Christian organizations, and lend the BCM crucial credibility in its formative months. Khoapa was among those banned by the South African government due to their actions in the anti-apartheid movement.

Resources

• Mamphela Ramphele
  Mamphela Ramphele
  Mamphela Aletta Ramphele is a South African academic, businesswoman and medical doctor and was an anti-apartheid activist. She is a current trustee on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.-Life and career:...
  
  . Across Boundaries: The Journey of a South African Woman Leader Feminist Press (2000)

EDIT COMMENTS BELOW:
Correction should reflect the fact that Bennie A. Khoapa WAS NOT hired or in anyway was convinced to join the BCP with Steve Biko. The truth is that Prof. B.A. Khoapa after engaging with and being part of the committee at SPROCAS was charged with continuing the work as resolved in the findings contained in the report named "A Taste of Power" by Peter Randall. This led to the development of the Black Community Programme (BCP) and through this hired Steve Biko as he had been excluded from the University of Natal. The two men had met (Khoapa and Biko) and had instantly liked each other. For Steve Biko was a mentor and advisor in many areas that the BC Movement was known for.

Edit by: E.R.L. (Mamsie) Khoapa
February 17, 2009
Source for corrections: B.A. Khoapa