Sam Nzima remembered at memorial service

Photographer Sam Nzima, best known for his iconic image of a dying Hector Pieterson being carried during the 1976 Soweto riots, was remembered by his colleagues and friends at a memorial service in Parktown yesterday morning.

The lauded photojournalist died at a Mpumalanga hospital on Saturday. He was 83.

“He is the kind of flame that will not be extinguished, even by the gale force winds of a society that often forgets,” said Professor Somadoda Fikeni at the memorial.

Nzima will be laid to rest on Saturday in a special provincial funeral.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the national flag be flown at half-mast in Mpumalanga during the ceremony.

“The president declared a special official funeral for individuals who have made a significant contribution to the life of our country. Mr Nzima was part of a generation of people who showed the brutality of apartheid, using his lens as a tool of struggle,” presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said.