Peter Magubane

In 1985, Magubane spent time in hospital recovering from buckshot wounds received when he was caught in police crossfire at a funeral near Johannesburg.

Following his release, Mugabane was assigned to cover the Soweto riots which occurred from June through to August 1976. He was arrested, beaten up and had his nose broken. Eventually, he was released at the end of 1976. The series of pictures he took brought him international recognition and acclaim. In February 1977, he would win an excellence in journalism award, sponsored by Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery and presented by Walter Cronkite.

He left Drum to become a freelancer. In 1967, he was employed by the Rand Daily Mail. In 1969, he was sent to photograph a demonstration outside Winnie Mandela's jail cell. He was arrested, interrogated and then put in solitary confinement. The charges were dropped in 1970. However, Magubane was banned from photography for five years. In 1971 he was imprisoned again and spent 98 days in solitary confinement and then spent six months in jail.

Magubane photographed most of South Africa's historic moments, such as Sharpeville in 1960 and also Mandela's Rivonia trial in 1964. He later recalled: "I had never seen so many dead people." His editor wanted to know why he had not taken any close-ups. Magubane then "decided I was not going to get emotionally involved, or at least not until after I have done my work."

In 2006, the South African Post Office issued a miniature sheet, commemorative envelope and a special canceller on National Women's Day. This commemorates the march on 9 August 1956 when 20,000 women from all parts of South Africa staged a second march on the Union Buildings to protest against the pass laws. They left petitions containing more than 100,000 signatures at the Prime Minister's door. The photograph used on the miniature sheet was taken by Peter Magubane during the march and features some of the women who led the 1956 march: Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn and Rahima Moosa.

He started employment at Drum as a driver. After six months of odd jobs, he was given a photography assignment under the mentorship of Jürgen Schadeberg, the chief photographer. He borrowed a camera and covered the 1955 ANC convention. "I went back to the office with good results and never looked back."

In 1954 he read a copy of Drum, a magazine known for its reporting of urban blacks and the effects of apartheid. "They were dealing with social issues that affected black people in South Africa. I wanted to be part of that magazine."

Peter Magubane (born 18 January 1932) is a South African photographer.