Hector Pieterson

Soweto Uprising

On 16 June 1976, school children like Hector Pieterson 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 written in Afrikaans. Students gathered to peacefully demonstrate, but the crowd soon became very aggressive when the police arrived, they then started to throw stones. A crowd of approximately 13,000 started rioting, killing two West Rand Administrative Board members, and burning a number of vehicles and buildings associated with the police and the Transvaal Education Department.

A group of 30 students gathered outside the Phefeni Junior Secondary School singing the traditional Sotho anthem 'Morena Boloka Sechaba Sa Heso'. When the police arrived the crowd became violent, throwing rocks at the police. The police in turn fired tear gas 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 Hector as the first child to die that fateful day, another boy, Hastings Ndlovu, 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 Hector was shot, he fell on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi Streets, he was picked up by Mbuyisa Makhubo (an 18-year-old schoolboy) who together with Hector's sister, Antoinette (then 17 years old), ran towards Sam Nzima's car. They bundled him in, and the 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 that she received a letter from Mbuyisa in 1978 from Nigeria but she has not heard from him since. Hector and Hastings Ndlovu are buried at the Avalon Cemetery, Soweto.

Surname

Since June 1976, Hector's surname has been spelled Peterson and Pietersen by the press but the family insists that the correct spelling is Pieterson. The Pieterson family was originally the Pitso family but decided to adopt the Pieterson name to try to pass as Coloured, a different ethnic group under the Apartheid system of racial classification, because Coloured people enjoyed somewhat better privileges under apartheid than blacks did.

Controversial lawsuit

On August 9, 2002, U.S. lawyer Ed Fagan initiated a class action lawsuit seeking $50 billion on behalf of victims from the apartheid era. The suit targeted international firms and banks that had profited from dealings with the apartheid regime in South Africa. Among the plaintiffs was Dorothy Molefi, the mother of Hector. High-profile South African figures and the government itself, including Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, and Desmond Tutu, distanced themselves from the lawsuit. Fagan, noted for initiating lawsuits over human-rights issues to compel corporate settlements, saw this particular case dismissed in 2004.

Memorial and museum

On 16 June 2002 the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum was opened near the place he was shot in Orlando West, Soweto to honour Hector 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 Hector Pierterson's death. The museum fuses memorabilia with modern technology and cultural history. As of 2010, Hector's sister Antoinette, who is seen in the famous photograph, works at the museum as a tour guide.