Synopsis "Ballad of Steve Biker: The Seventies (in English)"
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 travel abroad where they meet their future wives. Rupertheimer receives a harsh lesson in Ireland, from the media tycoon Darby O'Gill, while Khumalo falls 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 Khumalo and her husband Matthew, who lead an South African liberation group named 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 fearsome police Colonel Kokkenbull. So the Rupertheimer wedding ends with a message of hope for South Africa, that violence will be renounced and democratic negotiations will come about, which portends the pivotal rote that Rupertheimer must play in the future transition to democracy. 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 the 1994 democratic 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 craven journalistic scepticism is starkly portrayed, which impacted negatively on the transition to democracy, so it was indeed fortunate that our man Rupertheimer was there. To unerringly guide his troubled land, and steer the good ship South Africa to a democratic landing.
