Who had shot hector pieterson and why
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Hector Pieterson
Hector Pieterson (19 August 1963 - 16 June 1976) was a BlackSouth Africanactivist. He was shot and killed by police firing directly at him. [1] He protested against laws requiring the Afrikaans and English language to be taught in majority-Black primary and secondary schools together with other Black students. [2]
He, and other Black students, were reminded of their Dutchcolonial oppressors by Afrikaans. Besides, they wanted to learn Xhosa and Zulu like other Black children. [3]
His death was recorded by photographer Sam Nzima on 16 June 1976. This image was flashed worldwide and represented the resistance against apartheid. 16 June is now commemorated as Youth Day in South Africa. [4]
Early life
[change | change source]Hector Pieterson was born on 19 August 1963 in Soweto, South Africa to Vivian Pieterson and Dorothy Molefi. He was the only boy in the family. He had one sister, Lulu Pieterson, and four stepsisters, including Antoinette Sithole and Sina Molefi. [5]
Soweto Uprising
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Hector Pieterson
Hector Pieterson* was born in 1963. He became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in apartheid South Africa when a newspaper photograph by Sam Nzima - of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student - was published around the world.
Hector was one of the first casualties of the 1976 uprising against the sole use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was 12 at the time of his death. A postmortem revealed that Pieterson was killed by a shot fired directly at him and not by a bullet 'ricocheting off the ground' as police claimed.
Another student, Hastings Ndlovu, is believed to have been the first to be shot by police on that fateful day. Approximately 566 schoolchildren were killed during the protests. June 16 has been observed as a public holiday in South Africa called ‘Youth Day’ since 1994.
Earlier in the 1990s, a memorial to Hector Pieterson was erected in Orlando, Soweto, two blocks from where Hector was shot and fell. Later, in 2002, the Hector Pieterson Museum opened behind the memorial site. Sam Nzima’s photograph of Hector is display
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Hector Pieterson
South African protester
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 in 1976, when the police opened fire on black students protesting the enforcement of teaching in Afrikaans, 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 and Zulu.[1] A news photograph by Sam Nzima 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
Main article: Soweto Uprising
On 16 June 1976, school children protested the implementation of Afrikaans 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 writt
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