Hector Pieterson and the Soweto Uprising

16 June 1976; events of 1976 and a portrait from 2012Soweto and other South African cities; Botswana

W–073

Antoinette Sithole spotted her younger brother Hector among the schoolchildren and told him to go home. A demonstration was under way in Soweto on 16 June 1976. When the shooting began, she took cover. Coming out again, she saw people carrying a child and recognised her brother by his shoe. This was how Antoinette recalled the day before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission twenty years later.

The pupils were protesting against compulsory teaching in Afrikaans for part of their curriculum. Under the new rules, subjects were to be divided between English and Afrikaans. Children had to learn mathematics and other subjects in a language many of them, and their teachers, did not speak well. The language order belonged to the wider system of Bantu Education: the apartheid state separated schools for Black children from those for white children and restricted the opportunities their education could offer.

Thousands of pupils were heading for Orlando Stadium to present their demands. Police blocked their route, used tear gas and opened fire. Hector Pieterson was fatally wounded. Mbuyisa Makhubu picked him up and ran, with Antoinette beside him. She had never met Mbuyisa before. They reached a press car, which took Hector to a clinic. A doctor pronounced him dead. Hector was twelve. In her testimony, his sister explained that he would have turned thirteen in August.

Sam Nzima, a photographer for The World, was close to the pupils. He took six frames as Mbuyisa carried Hector, then removed the film, hid it in his sock and handed it to the driver to take back to the newsroom. Nzima described this in a first-person account published in 2006. Police later seized a different roll from his camera, he said.

One of Nzima’s frames appeared on the front page of The World’s extra-late edition that same day. Its headline reported four dead and eleven injured: the early figures available as the edition went to press. Another front page in this collection, The Cape Times of 18 June, reported that the unrest had spread beyond Soweto.

Protests, shootings and arrests continued for months. Clashes reached Alexandra on 17 June and later Cape Town and other cities. The photographs include marches, wounded people and a solidarity protest at the University of Cape Town. The TRC’s final report cites the earlier Cillie Commission’s figures of 575 deaths and 2,389 injuries for the period from 16 June 1976 to 28 February 1977. Those totals cover the whole period investigated. The TRC itself found that the Soweto march had remained peaceful until violent police intervention.

After the photograph appeared, police harassed Nzima. He left his job in Johannesburg and returned to his home village of Lillydale. In his later account, he said he opened a shop there, but the harassment continued: he spent a year under house arrest. He never resumed his former work as a newspaper photographer.

Mbuyisa also went into hiding from the police. His mother, Nombulelo Makhubu, told the commission in 1996 that he had left for Botswana and then Nigeria. She received his last letter in June 1978. He wrote that he was ill. Conflicting accounts of his fate later reached the family. At the time of the hearing, his mother still did not know what had happened to him.

In July 1996, Antoinette and Nzima gave evidence at the same TRC hearing. The photographer described another consequence of the image’s fame. It had been reproduced repeatedly without payment to him, often without his name. Even the memorial stone bearing the photograph lacked his credit. Nzima only recovered copyright in the late 1990s.

The Hector Pieterson Museum opened in Soweto on 16 June 2002. Antoinette began taking visitors through the museum and the streets where the demonstration had passed. The later portrait in this collection shows her recounting the events in May 2012. A Johannesburg municipal report from that year also records a tour she gave librarians visiting from Cape Town.

Nzima received the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze in 2011. He died on 12 May 2018. Mbuyisa’s fate remains unresolved. In June 2026, at the uprising’s fiftieth anniversary, the foundation led by former student protester Seth Mazibuko again called for answers about what had happened to him.

Photographs and documents

Mbuyisa Makhubu carries Hector Pieterson in his arms while Antoinette Sithole runs beside them. — Mbuyisa Makhubu carries the fatally wounded Hector Pieterson, with Hector’s sister Antoinette Sithole beside him. Soweto, 16 June 1976.Sam Nzima · 16 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 1

Photographer: Sam Nzima. The black-and-white photograph published by TIME as the basis for the modern colour version at the end of this collection. Identities and date are supported by TRC testimony; this is a different exposure from the following PLP image. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 841 × 1000 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Sam Nzima / TIME File on WITNESS · 841 × 1000

Sources and provenance for frame 2

Photographer: Sam Nzima. Date and identities are supported by the PLP exhibition and TRC testimony from Antoinette Sithole and Sam Nzima. This is one frame from the sequence, not a complete contact sheet. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 948 × 1200 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 948 × 1200

A crowd of pupils carrying an “AWAY WITH AFRIKAANS” placard. — Pupils with a placard opposing Afrikaans. Soweto, 1976; the record does not specify the day.Peter Magubane · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 3

Photographer: Peter Magubane. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 836 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 836

A crowd fills the road between low buildings, moving in the same direction. — Pupils marching towards Orlando Stadium. Soweto, June 1976, according to the PLP caption.Alf Kumalo · June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 4

Photographer: Alf Kumalo. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 790 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 790

A police officer points a revolver outside the frame, with other armed officers nearby. — Police firing on unarmed pupils. Soweto, 16 June 1976, according to the PLP caption.Sam Nzima · 16 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 5

Photographer: Sam Nzima. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 735 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 735

Two young people kneel with their hands raised before an officer beside an open van. — Two people kneel with raised hands in front of a police officer. Soweto, 1976. The precise occasion is not established.Jan Harman · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 6

Photographer: Jan Harman. PLP titles this image “Students confront police”. The caption does not identify the individuals or a date within 1976. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 900 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 900

Mbuyisa holds Hector beside the open door of a Volkswagen, with other people nearby. — Mbuyisa Makhubu holding Hector beside an open car door. From Sam Nzima’s photographs of 16 June 1976.Sam Nzima · 16 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 7

Photographer: Sam Nzima. Copy from the War Museum’s Youth Day 2021 exhibition, which cites Daily Maverick. Nzima and Antoinette described Hector being taken in a press car in their TRC testimony. The museum page’s inaccurate age and single-day death toll are not adopted here. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1000 × 818 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file War Museum / Daily Maverick File on WITNESS · 1000 × 818

The World front page with a large casualty headline and Nzima’s photograph of Mbuyisa, Hector and Antoinette. — Front page of The World’s extra-late edition on 16 June 1976, carrying Nzima’s photograph. Its headline gives the early figures of four dead and eleven injured.The World; principal photograph by Sam Nzima; reproduction maker uncredited · 16 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 8

Newspaper front page; The World; principal photograph by Sam Nzima; reproduction maker uncredited. PLP presents this page as part of a scrapbook concerning the 1976 unrest. Its date is legible on the page; the casualty figures reflect the newspaper’s information when that edition appeared. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 574 × 720 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 574 × 720

People run along a street, with some figures obscured by haze. — Residents scatter near Mzimhlope Hostel in Soweto as tear gas fills the area. 1976, according to PLP.Alf Kumalo · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 9

Photographer: Alf Kumalo. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 820 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 820

An armed police officer walks close beside a young man in a checked shirt. — A police officer arrests a student in Soweto. 1976; the student’s name and the exact date are not given.Danie Coetzer / Bussan collection · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 10

Photographer: Danie Coetzer / Bussan collection. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 840 × 1200 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 840 × 1200

A covered body lies on the ground, with the legs of standing police officers visible beyond the fence. — Police beside a body identified in the catalogue as that of a dead student. Soweto, 1976. The person is not named.Danie Coetzer / Bussan collection · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 11

Photographer: Danie Coetzer / Bussan collection. The catalogue does not identify this person as Hector Pieterson. No name or exact date is supplied. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 837 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 837

Two people lie motionless on the ground in front of an armoured vehicle. — Two bodies in front of an armoured vehicle near Mzimhlope. PLP dates the photograph to a few days after 16 June 1976; the people are unnamed.Alf Kumalo · June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 12

Photographer: Alf Kumalo. The available copy has a limited resolution of 874 × 549 px. The record does not establish the exact day or the identities of those killed. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 874 × 549 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 874 × 549

A uniformed person stands with their back to the camera beside a burning truck. — A burning truck beside Moroka police station in Soweto. 1976; no exact date is supplied in the catalogue.Alf Kumalo · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 13

Photographer: Alf Kumalo. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 826 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 826

Young people on a street holding stones; one holds a large round metal object in front of him. — Students with stones in Alexandra on 17 June 1976, the day after the uprising began in Soweto.Peter Magubane · 17 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 14

Photographer: Peter Magubane. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 803 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 803

One woman supports another, who presses a hand against her abdomen. — A young woman wounded in the abdomen by a police bullet in Alexandra on 17 June 1976, according to the PLP caption. She is unnamed.Peter Magubane · 17 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 15

Photographer: Peter Magubane. The nature and cause of the wound come from the archival caption; the photograph alone cannot establish them. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 883 × 1200 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 883 × 1200

A close-up of a person’s tearful face. — PLP describes this portrait as a mourner grieving for a loved one. Soweto, 1976; the person and the occasion are not identified.Peter Magubane · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 16

Photographer: Peter Magubane. The image has not been connected to the funeral of a particular person. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 978 × 1200 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 978 × 1200

A woman and a child walk beside a wall painted with the words “BLACK POWER”. — “BLACK POWER” painted on a wall in Dube, Soweto. 1976.Peter Magubane · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 17

Photographer: Peter Magubane. The people are unnamed; their relationship is not established. The source record does not state a free licence.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 790

Marching pupils with “DON’T SHOOT” and “RELEASE FELLOW STUDENTS” placards. — Langa High pupils marching in Cape Town after the 1976 uprisings began. Their placards call on police not to shoot and to release fellow students.Photographer uncredited · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 18

Photographer: Photographer uncredited. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 886 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 886

A group holding placards and banners near a university building. — A solidarity protest at the University of Cape Town during the 1976 uprising. The people are unnamed.Photographer uncredited / Special Collections, UCT Libraries · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 19

Photographer: Photographer uncredited / Special Collections, UCT Libraries. PLP’s title names students, while its creator field contains a caption referring to university workers. Individual authorship is not established; the institutional credit is retained. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 1200 × 802 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 1200 × 802

The Cape Times front page with the headline “Soweto violence spreads”. — The Cape Times front page of 18 June 1976 reports that the unrest is spreading from Soweto.The Cape Times; reproduction maker uncredited · 18 June 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 20

Newspaper front page; The Cape Times; reproduction maker uncredited. The date is legible on the newspaper page presented by PLP in a 1976 scrapbook. Photographers of the individual illustrations are not listed in the record. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 645 × 850 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 645 × 850

Two young men stand holding hands, each raising his free hand in a clenched fist. — Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo in exile in Botswana. 1976, according to the PLP record.Alf Kumalo · 1976

Sources and provenance for frame 21

Photographer: Alf Kumalo. The caption identifies two student leaders, not Mbuyisa Makhubu. The record does not specify the names from left to right. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 739 × 1002 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 739 × 1002

Sam Nzima sits at a desk holding a print of Mbuyisa carrying Hector. — Sam Nzima holding a print of his photograph. PLP dates the portrait to 1976; its photographer is not named.Portrait photographer uncredited · 1976, PLP dating

Sources and provenance for frame 22

Photographer: Portrait photographer uncredited. Nzima’s authorship applies to the print he holds, not to this portrait. The portrait’s year has not been independently confirmed. The source record does not state a free licence.

The public 794 × 1200 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image. The catalogue lists a larger image, but the server delivered this size.

Source image file Photography Legacy Project / Google Arts & Culture File on WITNESS · 794 × 1200

An outdoor portrait of Antoinette Sithole with listeners standing behind her. — Antoinette Sithole recounting the events of 16 June 1976 to visitors. Soweto, 22 May 2012, according to the photographer’s description.Harvey Barrison · 22 May 2012

Sources and provenance for frame 23

Photographer: Harvey Barrison. Original file from the photographer’s Flickr page. Wikimedia Commons records a CC BY-SA 2.0 review on 19 September 2012; Flickr currently displays CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. The licensing records differ; no new free licence is asserted. © Harvey Barrison. Current author-side notice: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The public 3393 × 2262 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons: licence review, 2012 Harvey Barrison / Flickr File on WITNESS · 3393 × 2262

Modern colourisation of Mbuyisa carrying Hector with Antoinette beside him; colour has been added to their clothes and the street. — Sanna Dullaway for TIME; published in 2016. Colour treatment of Nzima’s leading photograph of Hector, Mbuyisa and Antoinette.Sam Nzima; colourisation by Sanna Dullaway for TIME · photograph 1976; treatment published in 2016

Sources and provenance for frame 24

Historical photograph: Sam Nzima. Colourisation: Sanna Dullaway for TIME. Modern colourisation of the black-and-white frame. Added colours are not verified as historically accurate; the working method is not established. WITNESS performed no new image treatment. No free licence is stated.

The public 841 × 1000 px file is preserved byte-for-byte; a WebP preview is generated separately. WITNESS has not cropped or colourised the image.

Source image file Sanna Dullaway / TIME; Sam Nzima File on WITNESS · 841 × 1000

All sources for this story

TRC: Antoinette Sithole and Sam Nzima, 22 July 1996 TRC: Nombulelo Elizabeth Makhubu, 30 April 1996 TRC final report, volume 3, chapter 6, pp. 557-571 Sam Nzima, Rhodes Journalism Review 26, September 2006, pp. 11-12 Photography Legacy Project: The photographers of the uprisings Photography Legacy Project: 1976 Uprisings - 50 Year Commemoration South African History Online: language-policy exemptions rejected, 11 June 1976 National Museum: Sam Nzima’s house turned into a museum, 2020 City of Johannesburg: Hector Pieterson Museum Brand South Africa: the day Hector Pieterson died City of Johannesburg: Visitors check out libraries, 2012 The Presidency: National Orders, 27 April 2011 The Presidency: official funeral for Sam Nzima, 16 May 2018 Daily Sun: Youth called to pass on torch, 16 June 2026

Hector Pieterson and the Soweto Uprising

Photographs and documents

1. Hector, Mbuyisa and Antoinette

2. Hector, Mbuyisa and Antoinette

3. Against teaching in Afrikaans

4. March towards Orlando Stadium

5. Police open fire

6. Beside the police van

7. At the press car

8. The World, 16 June

9. Tear gas at Mzimhlope

10. Arrest in Soweto

11. Beside a body

12. Bodies near Mzimhlope

13. Truck at Moroka police station

14. Alexandra, 17 June

15. Wounded in Alexandra

16. A tearful face

17. A wall in Dube

18. Pupils in Langa

19. Solidarity in Cape Town

20. The Cape Times, 18 June

21. Student leaders in Botswana

22. Sam Nzima

23. Antoinette in 2012

24. Modern colourisation