--- title: 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising | TIME description: Sam Nzima’s photo of Hector Pieterson, slain in the Soweto uprising, changed the lives not just of the people in the picture, but of all the people of South Africa canonical: https://time.com/video/p46CjkS2/ og:title: 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising og:description: Sam Nzima’s photo of Hector Pieterson, slain in the Soweto uprising, changed the lives not just of the people in the picture, but of all the people of South Africa og:url: https://time.com/video/p46CjkS2/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/p46CjkS2/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising twitter:description: Sam Nzima’s photo of Hector Pieterson, slain in the Soweto uprising, changed the lives not just of the people in the picture, but of all the people of South Africa twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/p46CjkS2/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising [Watch (HLS stream): 100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/p46CjkS2.m3u8) (11:38)  _Published 2016-06-14. Sam Nzima’s photo of Hector Pieterson, slain in the Soweto uprising, changed the lives not just of the people in the picture, but of all the people of South Africa_ --- Jul 27, 2023 8:14 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Star Wars Uprising Announce Trailer](/video/uEKH02tz/) ### Star Wars Uprising Announce Trailer [The Uprising](/video/nltBHxlQ/) ### The Uprising [Rooting for the World Cup Home Team In Soweto](/video/gTUVzxrw/) ### Rooting for the World Cup Home Team In Soweto --- ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ SOUND ] The law of the country was that we were not allowed to take pictures of anything that the police have done. So I knew I was risking my life. The last picture that I took with this camera is of Hector Pieterson, June 16, 1976. [ MUSIC ] Growing up even though We heard about apartheid, it did not make sense to us because we are based in Soweto and there is no white person in Soweto. The only white person that you'd see would be superintendent, police. So we did not really understand, What apartheid is. About 1976 we were told that subjects are going to be taught in Afrikaans. [ FOREIGN ] So we felt like the very same subjects that we are struggling with in English, we are going to do in Afrikaans. This doesn't make sense. For many years, Blacks were learning English, but when they say that now you must try to learn everything in Afrikaans, it was difficult for the students. We preferred to be taught in English because we felt like English is the international language. To us, it was like OK. Now our oppressors think that whatever they want to say to us, we'll do because we are afraid of them. So, we just decided that we are really going to demonstrate. Some student leaked the information to the World newspaper. They told us tomorrow there's going to be students protesting against Africans. [ MUSIC ] Oon the 16th of June, in 1976, we were so excited. It was like we were going on a school trip. To them it was just a joyful march. The singing, the chanting. We felt free. Surprisingly, the whole of Soweto Came together to march. About 10, 000 students. As I was marching with the students, I drift away from them because I didn't know how it was going to happen but I knew they would be arrested or even shot by the police. Police barricaded some of the street. So our leaders told us that other schools are on their way. The student leader climbed on top of the tree telling them that this is a peaceful march. I was between the police and the students. So I put my armband, which has got written press here so that the pilice must identify me as a journalist, not a student. While waiting for these other students. All of a sudden, there was a shot. [ SOUND ] All the police were just shooting at random. So the students scattered. I think what provoked the police is that they sang the song which was banned in South Africa, Nkosi Sikelel. Which today is the national anthem. We all ran amok in confusion, running for cover. I didn't even think my brother would be in that, because we were told that only secondary and high schools were to take part. Then I spotted my younger brother on the opposite side of the pavement. He was too young to understand what was really going on. I just said to him, You know, you must just stay here next to me. I'll make sure I find a way back home. [ MUSIC ] While I was talking to him, there was another shot and we went two separate ways. [ MUSIC ] I was very close from where the police were shooting. And I saw a person fell down but I did not expect to see a 13- year old boy being shot by the police. [ MUSIC ] As I sneak back to the pavement, he was nowhere to be seen. [ MUSIC ] When I took that picture, Mbuyisa Makhubu picked him up to get Hector Pieterson to the clinic. So I quickly to the scene. I was trying to explain myself, this is my younger brother. Where are you taking him? The man never said anything and I looked at my brother. I saw blood coming from the side of the mouth. As he was about to put my brother in the car he said, he's dead. What started as a peaceful protest degenerated into a rampage, and later exploded into a blood conflagration. Soweto was on fire. No journalist was sleeping on that night, until the following day. There was a cloud of smoke all over Soweto. Burnt houses. Buses. It was tense. I knew that the police will force me to open all my cameras. So I removed the film quickly and stuck it in my sock. When the police opened all my cameras, all the films were exposed except the pictures I took of Hector Pieterson. There was a big debate up at the World newspaper. The editor thought we must not use this picture because this picture is going to spark civil war in South Africa. But eventually the editor of the World newspaper decided alone. Come what may, we must use this picture. The police came to the office of the World newspaper. They were not happy about the World exposing what the government was doing. Of course, the picture was banned in South Africa. I did not know that it was going to have such a big impact. [ MUSIC ] When my brother Mbuyisa came back to the house, maybe it was around 9, 10- ish at night. He was hurt, he was confused. He felt bad that Hector died, his intention was to save him. We had to keep on telling him that look, when a person has to die, they have to die. It's not your fault. But he just changed from that day. He was no longer the Mbuyisa that we knew. I think it did something to him that was never understood. And he never shared it with us. The police didn't like the picture. They said he was posing to show the world what was happening in our country. He couldn't stay at home because if they found him, they would have arrested him. I think after that he was kind of mentally disturbed. [ MUSIC ] He was being hunted by the police. That's why he escaped from the country, and he went into exile. Up to now, nobody knows his whereabout. [ MUSIC ] The police also came to me to find out why I take this picture. I told them, I was assigned to do this job. And then he said, Sam choose between your job and your life. Now we are being given a final assignment that we must arrest you. We must just shoot at you That's the thing that made me leave the job from the World newspaper. I found that Johannesburg was no longer good for me. To be a journalist was no longer good for me so I came here at Lilydale, my hideout place, where I am now. I was on house arrest about a year and Seven months. During that time, I resigned from the World newspaper. Then after that, they didn't even say that the sentence is over. They just disappeared. [ MUSIC ] For many years, I regretted taking the picture of Hector Pieterson. Because that picture destroy my future in journalism. But, I no longer regret it, because, Mandela, when he was unveiling Hector Pieterson Memorial, he said, when we saw this picture, we said, enough is enough. After so many years, people are free in South Africa and that has really given me consolation. In the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all. [ APPLAUSE ] When I look at the picture I cannot remove myself from what happened on that day. But the photo itself, it did not only change our lives as such, but it was a turning point for all South Africans. It did not matter the color. The photo gives us more and more sadness every day because More and more sadness everyday because my brother just disappeared of the face of the earth. After all these year I realize that It's not just a picture, it's something quite big. He did something good for the country. [ MUSIC ] We buried my brother on the third of July. The hardest part of it was, why did police open fire? It really did not make sense. Because as we were students, We never had weapons. The photo itself tells it all. Even the youngest were there. They felt like being oppressed is not okay. Look at what happened. Even the youngest was killed. So to me, the picture reflects all those families who had similar incidents. Because I know that we were not the only ones. [ MUSIC ] I realize that when you want to get something you must work hard for it. You know, this freedom The youth of South Africa, they don't value it because they found everything has been done for them. There are quite a lot of people who died because they wanted to show that we are not supporting apartheid in the country. The Hector Peterson Museum is a place of reconciliation. Those who died made us live better today. And as for my brother, I know that he did not die in vain. The picture changed South African apartheid because the world, they felt that this is enough. [ MUSIC ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Photographs: Soweto Uprising","description":"Sam Nzima’s photo of Hector Pieterson, slain in the Soweto uprising, changed the lives not just of the people in the picture, but of all the people of South Africa","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/p46CjkS2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-14T23:22:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/p46CjkS2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/p46CjkS2/","duration":"PT11M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/p46CjkS2/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```