Tributes continue to pour in after the passing of a veteran photojournalist Mr Sam Nzima over the weekend. He died at the age of 83 at Rob Ferreira Hospital on Saturday evening.
“This is a loss for all of us; a loss to the nation, his organisation, family and for both aspiring and practicing journalists. My condolences to all who were close to him,” said Dr Isaac Tlou.
Tlou added that he got to know Nzima back in the 1980s and remembers how Nzima spoke fondly about his camera during a funeral they attended in 1983 where a student from the University of Zululand was shot during the apartheid regime. “He was carrying his camera and talked fondly of it,” he said.
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In a statement issued by the presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Nzima was one of a kind. “His camera captured the full brutality of apartheid oppression on the nation’s psyche and history – from the Defiance Campaign through to forced removals and the Soweto student uprisings,” read the statement.
“We will especially remember his iconic photograph of a dying young Hector Pieterson which became a symbol of resistance against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in the black schools.”
