Poppy Buthelezi, who was shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising died this week. She was ubuntu personified, a family friend said on Friday.
Buthelezi (48), who had been confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life after she was shot in the back in the 1976 uprising, died on Thursday, said Cecil Moeng — Buthelezi’s spokesperson and chairperson of the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa).
”Poppy was ubuntu personified,” he said.
”It is difficult, very difficult, very sad [for the family].
”It is unbelievable … we all don’t like the way Poppy left us … she became so strong from 2000 and now she is leaving us with a lot of sadness.”
A bullet lodged in her spinal chord led to her paralysis during the Soweto uprising in 1976 when students took to the streets in protest against Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools.
Buthelezi was a student activist at the Senaoane Junior Secondary School at the time.
”She died as a consequence of the wounds she sustained … the wound affected her spinal column,” said Moeng.
He added that she was not one to wallow in self-pity ”but took life head-on”.
”… [Buthelezi] was part of those who organised physically challenged people into self helping projects, and put their concerns into [the] national agenda.”
She is survived by her 17-year-old daughter.
A memorial service would take place on September 18 at St Hilda’s Church in Senaoane 3pm.
Moeng said he was meeting with her family: her two brothers, two sisters and grandmother on Friday afternoon to finalise the funeral arrangements. — Sapa