Sam Nzima, (South African, 1934-2018)

Hector Pieterson, 16th June 1976 19 3/4 x 15 15/16in (50.2 x 40.5cm)

Hector Pieterson, 16th June 1976
signed 'S Nzima', dated verso '16. 4. 2002'
c-print with selenium toner
19 3/4 x 15 15/16in (50.2 x 40.5cm)

Provenance
Acquired directly from Sam Nzima;
A New York City collection.

On 16th June 1976 the South African schoolboy Hector Pieterson was shot and killed by the South African police.

Earlier in the day in Soweto a large group of schoolchildren were protesting the implementation of Afrikaans and English as the languages of schooling. This disregarded the locally spoken languages in Soweto and across South Africa.

The demonstration started peacefully, but with the arrival of the police stones were thrown and the police fired tear gas into the crowd in an attempt to disperse them. They finally opened fire with live ammunition, 10 people were killed and 250 wounded on that day.

Hector Pieterson was picked up, barely alive, by Mbuyisa Makhubo and he, together with Hector's sister Antionette, ran towards Sam Nzima's car. Hector was taken to hospital in Nzima's car were he was pronounced dead.

The Soweto uprisings lasted from 16th to 18th June 1976 and the exact number of those who died is not known, but it has been estimated between 176 to 700.

Sam Nzima started work for The World, a black African daily newspaper in 1968. This paper published the photograph of Hector Pieterson on 17th June 1976 and Nzima was immediately forced into hiding due to the harassment he received from the security forces. The paper was closed down by the South African government in 1978.