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Karabo Nkoli pays tribute to one of the most excellent archivists and photographic activists of South Africa's apartheid history, Peter Magubane.
You can be forgiven for thinking that it is only political activists who played a role in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. The bravery displayed by the work of artists and photographers is often overlooked as the focus is solely on liberation movements and their work.
South Africa was blessed to have the likes of Sam Nzima, Alf Kumalo and Peter Magubane as soldiers who fought apartheid using the camera as a weapon.
READ | Media industry mourns 'fearless' photojournalist Peter Magubane
In his own words, Magubane said:
His commitment to using photography as a form of protest led to the oppressors forcing him to stand on bricks for five days and nights. He collapsed on the fifth day. This was because he was, in June 1969, photographing protesters outside the prison where Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and 21 other political activists were being detained, and this was identified as a crime by the apartheid regime. He was held in solitary confinement for 586 days, whereby he would be served with a five-year banning order that prohibited him from working for any publishing company.
READ | Archives: Peter Magubane, SA’s living legend
He risked his life selflessly to document his people's struggle from June to August 1976, to document the Soweto student uprisings where he had to endure harassment and assault by the police.
Speaking to the youth in June 1976, he said:
His dedication to documenting the struggle led to him being shot 13 times during violent protests, and yet he endured to capture another photo. He became the visual voice of the struggle by documenting it.
How distasteful it is that there was never a biography of one of the liberation movement's most excellent archivists while he was still with us. Many learners go through their primary and high school years without any mention of Peter Magubane and his immense contribution to South Africa's struggle for freedom. He spent the last years of his life capturing sunsets. And now the sun has set on one of South Africa's iconic sons.
READ | Magubane: Nobody should tell you what to do with your camera
May we draw inspiration from this gentle giant as we take responsibility for fulfilling our generational mission. Through the transition of Peter Magubane, we are all challenged to question the actual state of our country and to be the catalysts of change in all sectors of society amid the absence of moral leadership in the country.
We are proud to know that when we pronounce that we stand on the shoulders of giants, Peter Magubane is one of them.
When they see us, they see themselves in us.
When we see them, we see ourselves in them.
Nkomose, Dibanto, Jiyane, Thole, Sothole, Snquma, Didiza, Mzilankatha Ndlandla,
Nhlun’emhlophe egezwa ngobisi
Ithi ingaba bomvu kube eyomlandakazi
Malinga owalinga amatshe aba zintaba
Msenganduna namathokazi
Rest in Power, Peter Magubane
*Karabo Nkoli is chairperson of Youth Must Rise, Author of Whispers Of Life and Conscious In Crisis
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