The iconic Hector Pieterson photo taken by Dr Sam Nzima in 1976. Photograph - Dr Sam Nzima -Archive.
This year, the keynote address will be delivered by Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal in celebration of Dr Nzima’s life, a legendary photographer who took what became the widely circulated and influential image of Hector Pieterson for the Soweto uprising, but struggled for years to get the copyright.
Dr Nzima would obtain the copyright to his photograph, after many years of trying, when the Argus Newspaper Group, that owned The World newspaper, was sold to the Independent Group. Time Magazine regards Nzima's famous image as one of 100 influential images of all time.
Dr Sam Nzima’s story
Dr Sam Masana Nzima was born on 8 August 1934 in Lillydale, Mpumalanga. On 16 June 1976, the Soweto uprising began as police confronted protesting students. Dr Nzima took the photograph of fatally wounded Hector Pieterson on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi streets in Orlando West, Soweto, near Phefeni High School. The image depicts an emotional scene of Hector being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo, with Hector's sister Antoinette Pieterson right beside them. After The World newspaper published the photo the next day, Dr Nzima was forced to hide because of the harassment he was receiving by the security police. He moved back to Lillydale, where he was kept under surveillance by security police.
Dr Nzima faced many years of torment while trying to publish the most famous of his pictures, the Pieterson image. Until his demise in 2018, he lived in Lillydale, where he managed a photography school. He served on the councils of the Lillydale municipality and Bohlabela District.
Event details:
Venue: TUT Mbombela Campus
Time: 11:00
RSVP: Tebogo Sehularo: 079 575 8100
Sthembiso Nzima: 079 329 6817
Invitation - The third Dr Sam Nzima Memorial Lecture.pdf