Hastings Ndlovu ( 2 February 1961 - 16 June 1976) was a schoolboy who was killed in the Soweto uprising against the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

system in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Life

On 16 June 1976, when the police from the Orlando Police Station led by Colonel Kleingeld opened fire on

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

students protesting against the imposition of

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

instruction in school, he was the first to be hit. Ndlovu's death was not as widely publicised as

Hector Pieterson Zolile Hector Pieterson (19 August 1964 – 16 June 1976) was a South African schoolboy who was shot and killed at the age of twelve during the Soweto uprising, when the police opened fire on black students protesting the enforcement of teach ...

's because no photographer was present to record it. Kleingeld said at the Cillie Commission that Hastings "was inciting the crowd". There is some doubt as to who was the first fatality, as Pieterson was pronounced dead upon arrival at the clinic, whereas Ndlovu died from bullet wounds to the head shortly after being brought to the clinic. Ndlovu was survived by his parents, three sisters and brother. His sisters left the country soon after June 16, but returned to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

a few years later.

Legacy

Ndlovu was buried with Pieterson at Avalon Cemetery in Johannesburg. His house in Soweto had a blue plaque attached to it on 16 June 2012 to commemorate his sacrifice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ndlovu, Hastings 1961 births 1976 deaths Anti-apartheid activists People from Soweto People shot dead by law enforcement officers in South Africa Murdered South African children Murdered students Protest-related deaths