‘Magubane used his lens to make the world a better place’

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Iconic photographer Dr Peter Magubane has been hailed as a giant who used his camera lens to make the world a better place, and a freedom fighter who fought apartheid head-on with just the click of a button and a flashlight.

Scores of family members, friends and dignitaries bid Magubane farewell during his funeral service in Johannesburg earlier on Wednesday. The award-winning photographer passed away earlier this month after a long illness.

There were moving and emotional tributes from Magubane’s family, which described him as more than just an inspirational photojournalist. He was also their safe space and personal hero.

“My father was also a family man in the nuclear sense. He was a role model and very strict,” says Fikile Magubane, daughter.

Born in 1932, Magubane’s career started in 1955. He soon captured the attention of the world through his iconic images that exposed the plight of the marginalized black majority in the country.

He was lauded as a giant for the role he played in exposing the apartheid government’s injustices and for using his lens to fight for freedom and democracy. He fearlessly captured some of the most heart-wrenching atrocities in South Africa.

Magubane was accorded a Provincial Official Category 2 funeral – a salute befitting of a gallant freedom fighter, a man whose pictures didn’t just win awards but restored the dignity of millions of South Africans and his last chapter was closed with dignity.

At the age of 91, Magubane has been laid to rest at the Fourways Memorial Park Cemetery.

Video: Dr Peter Magubane Funeral Service: