New light on '76 uprising

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By DEON WiGGETT
HECTOR Peterson was not the first person to be killed in the 1976 Soweto
uprising, a new book sensationally claims. Hastings Ndlovu, the protest's
leader, was actually the first casualty. Pat Hopkins and Helen Grange
claim in The Rocky Rioter Teargas Show, which was launched in Soweto
this week. The book looks set to reopen debate on several issues
relating to the uprising. It asks controversial questions on the
ANC and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's involvement in the uprising,
and the National Party Cabinet's "complicity in the ensuing
atrocities". "Police were taught that if deadly force was
to quell a mob, the quickest solution was to take out the leader
first - in this case Ndlovu," the book asserts. "It was
thus highly likely that the commander of Orlando Police station,
Colonel Kleingeld, fired two shots as witnesses stated, and that
the first hit its intended target -Ndlovu - and the second Hector
Peterson. "Peterson has always been seen as the first victim
because of the famous photograph of Mbuyisa Makhubu running with
Peterson in his arms. This photograph was carried in newspapers around
the world.
But Ndlovu was the likely first victim, coauthor Hopkins said.

Source
Citizen. 05 May 2001. P.1.