Zolile Hector Pieterson (19 August 1963 – 16 June 1976) was a South African schoolboy who was shot and killed at the age of 12 during the

Soweto uprising and massacre The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by Bantu peoples of South Africa, black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students f ...

in 1976, when the police opened fire on black students protesting the enforcement of teaching in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, mostly spoken by the white and coloured population in South Africa, as the medium of instruction for all school subjects. The students wanted to learn in their native languages,

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

and Zulu. A news photograph by

Sam Nzima Sam Nzima (8 August 1934 in Lillydale, Bushbuckridge Local Municipality – 12 May 2018 in Nelspruit) was a South African photographer who took what became the widely-circulated and influential image of Hector Pieterson for the Soweto uprising, ...

of the mortally wounded Pieterson being carried by another Soweto resident while his sister ran next to them was published around the world. The anniversary of his death is the designated Youth Day in South Africa.

Soweto uprising

On 16 June 1976, school children protested the implementation of

and English as dual medium of instruction in secondary schools in a 50:50 basis. This was implemented throughout South Africa regardless of the locally-spoken language and some exams were also written in Afrikaans. Students gathered to peacefully demonstrate, but the crowd soon became intimidated when the police arrived, and started to throw stones. The police arrived and fired

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

into the crowd in order to disperse them. There are conflicting accounts of who gave the first command to shoot, but soon children were turning and running in all directions, leaving some children lying wounded on the road. Although the media often named as the first child to die that day, another boy,

Hastings Ndlovu Hastings Ndlovu (2 February 1961 – 16 June 1976) was a South African high school student who was killed by the police in the Soweto uprising against the apartheid system in South Africa. Death Ndlovu was killed on 16 June 1976 during the Sowe ...

, was actually the first child to be shot. But in the case of Hastings, there were no photographers on the scene, and his name was not immediately known. When Pieterson was shot, he fell on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi Streets. He was picked up by Mbuyisa Makhubo who, together with Pieterson's sister Antoinette (then 17 years old), ran towards Sam Nzima's car. They bundled him in, and journalist Sophie Tema drove him to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced dead. Mbuyisa and Nzima were harassed by the police after the incident and both went into hiding. Mbuyisa's mother told the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

that she received a letter from Mbuyisa in 1978 from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

but she has not heard from him since. Pieterson and

are buried at the Avalon Cemetery,

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

. Ten people died as well and 250 people were injured.

Surname

Since June 1976, Pieterson's surname has often appeared in the media as ''Peterson'' and ''Pietersen'', the latter being the spelling engraved on the

tombstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...

. According to the family, the correct spelling is ''Pieterson''.

Lawsuit

On 9 August 2002 U.S. lawyer

Ed Fagan Edward Davis Fagan (born October 20, 1952, Harlingen, Texas) is a former American reparations lawyer who was disbarred for his conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Fagan was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He particip ...

led a $50bn class action suit by apartheid-era victims against international firms and banks who profited from dealings with the Apartheid regime. Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was Dorothy Molefi, Pieterson's mother. The South African government distanced themselves from the lawsuit. Fagan had filed a string of lawsuits over human-rights issues brought in order to force companies to settle. The cases were thrown out in 2004.

Memorial and museum

On 16 June 2002, the Hector Pieterson Museum was opened near the place he was shot in Orlando West, Soweto, to honour Pieterson and those who died around the country in the 1976 uprising. Funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (R16 million) and the Johannesburg City Council (R7.2 million), it has become a major tourist attraction. The start of the museum begins with pictures of Pieterson's death. The museum fuses memorabilia with modern technology and cultural history. As of 2010, Pieterson's sister Antoinette, who is seen in the photograph, works at the museum as a tour guide.

References

External links