Research to unveil the disappearance of Mbuyisa Makhubu, the June 1976 carrier of injured Hector Pieterson launched
The findings are part of an exhibition that will be launched on Sunday, June 16 at Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto. This important research project was commissioned by the City of Johannesburg. Will the research findings finally unveil the mystery surrounding Makhubo’s disappearance riddle?
By CityLife Arts Writer
Scholarly research has been put in place to unveil the enigma shrouding Mbuyisa Makhubu’s fate. All it’s findings will be displayed in a an art exhibition to be launched on June 16, 2024 at the Hector Pieterson Museum, in Soweto.Makhubu, whose iconic picture of him carrying a dying Hector Pieterson has never been accompanied by a concrete story of his destiny.
According to journalists of the time, the story goes that after Pieterson was fatally shot, Makhubu changed his direction and rushed to a distressed Antoinette, sister of Pieterson, and carried the dying boy to Sam Nzima, the photographer’s car which was used to drive him to a nearby clinic where he was declared dead on arrival.
Despite the world-renowned iconic photograph, by Nzima, many know nothing more than that he was born in 1957 or 1958 and that he was a South African anti-Apartheid activist who disappeared in 1979 shortly after he was seen carrying Pieterson who was shot during the Soweto youth uprising in 1976. The little more that is known is that most people thought Hector was his younger brother Raun, after they saw the commitment with which Makubu carried the boy. His family last heard from him in 1978 before he and his two other comrades moved on to God\knows where from Nigeria.
“The Mbuyisa Makhubu Project was proposed by the Hector Pieterson Museum as a necessary research to find out what happened to Mbuyisa whose story does not have an end as yet. The main components of the research will be to conduct research that will unpack his life story from birth to death. The research finds will be archived at the Museum and any object collected or identified will be sourced for the exhibition at the Museum.” says Soweto Museums Chief Curator Prince Dube.
Like a child of a healer, the nation has waited with anticipation for the ending to Makhubu’s story hoping it was not as tragic as that of many children political activists. So much so that when news of him being erroneously spotted in a Canadian prison, emerged, many hoped it was him indeed. This research is also done in his commemoration and in respect of the African tradition of putting to bed the story involving someone’s life and his legacy. The main components of the project will be research that will unpack his life story from birth to the final story of his life and will be archived at the museum and any objects collected identified will be sourced for the exhibition at the museum.