The late Sam Nzima tells of that fateful day

Nzima is the legendary photographer who took the famous photo of Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying young Hector Pieterson’s lifeless body on June 16, 1976. Just before his death in 2018, Nzima spent some time with this reporter on a prospect of writing a tell-all book on Nzima’s life and times.

Below is an extract from part of the interview that formed part of the planned book.

I caught up with Mr June 16 himself at his home in Kildare in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality. It is a nice and fairly warm Sunday afternoon and Nzima had just gotten back from a church service at the Assemblies Church of God.

One of his grandsons, Amukelani Gazide, who had been instrumental in setting up this meeting with one of the world’s renowned photographers, took charge and made me comfortable and assured me that the man was always eager to tell his story at any time. At 81 years, I had expected an old man in a wheelchair or crutches, but to my surprise, Nzima is as strong as a horse.

In fact, he still drives himself around and even to far off places such as Nelspruit. His eyesight is still intact and strong as that of an eagle that flies up above the sky but still able to spot a prey from the ground.  Well, once I was comfortable enough, our conversation with Mr June 16 swiftly moved from the day he captured that picture to his future plans.

The day Hector Pieterson died

“I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I have tried erasing it all from my head but it doesn’t go away. “I still remember the teargas, the sounds of the guns and the revolutionary songs the young people were singing. I was the only photographer close to where the young people were marching and eventually got shot.

“It all unfolded in front of my eyes and for a minute I thought I was watching a bioscope (movie), until it dawned to me that it was really happening.

“I saw a child being shot and falling down. I knew, this was my moment. I had to capture this. There was no room to cower.

“Remember, during those days we were using the old model cameras without a nice zoom, and so I as the bullets flew in the air, I just rushed forward and went for the picture. I actually took a couple of shots, because we were using films and there were no playbacks to see if the picture is of quality, but this picture came out just perfect,” said Nzima recalling the events of June 16, 1976.

Nzima’s photograph which instantly made him the target of the apartheid security forces, was published around the world and came to represent the anger and tragedy of a day that changed the course of South African history.

“Seeing that I had taken enough pictures, I carefully took out the film without exposing it to sunlight and hid it in my pants. I put in a new film in the camera and this worked for me because when the police saw me taking pictures, they took my camera and destroyed the new film without realising that I had already hidden the one film that had all the grisly stuff,” he continued.

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Future plans

“I have just established a Sam Nzima Foundation, which would be responsible for the setting up of the photo gallery, a museum and a school for journalism.

” I have already acquired a plot where this building will be established. It will be suitably and strategically positioned along the main road to the Kruger National Park and the private game lodges.  “The reasoning behind this, is to attract the many tourists that use this road. My vision is to bring the Hector Peterson Museum here at home because the person who took that picture which shook the entire globe lives here and not in Johannesburg.

“What is happening now is actually heart-breaking because local schools and teachers take our children all the way to Johannesburg just to see the Hector Peterson Museum when the photographer is here.

“I want schools, local people and tourists to come here and see not only me, the living legend, but also the museum and maybe where I come from as well.

“We want them to come here in Mpumalanga for that experience. You know, I sometimes get invitations from different schools and media houses where I share with the learners about this day. It is actually an overwhelming experience to get an opportunity to tell the story all over again and relive the moments,” he said.

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Legacy

“I would like to be remembered as a freedom fighter who did not use a machine gun to send the message across but only used a camera (Pentax SL).”