Hastings Ndlovu, was a black Sowetan

Soweto

Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...

 schoolboy who died in the Soweto uprising against the apartheid

History of South Africa in the apartheid era

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party governments of South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained...

 system.

Little is known about him, but on June 16, 1976, when the police opened fire on Sowetan students protesting against being forced to learn Afrikaans in school, he took the first bullet. Hastings Ndlovu's shooting and later death was not publicized as was Hector Pieterson

Hector Pieterson

Hector Pieterson became the subject of an iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa when a news photograph by Sam Nzima of the dying Hector being carried by another student while his sister ran next to them, was published around the world. He was killed at the age of 12 when the...

's, because there was no photographer present to shoot a picture of the boy.

First Fatality?

There is some doubt as to who was the first fatality

Fatality

Fatality may refer to:* Death* Fatalism* A fatal error, in computing* Fatality , a finishing move in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games* Fatality , a character published by DC Comics...

, as Hector Pieterson was pronounced dead upon arrival at the clinic

Clinic

A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...

, whereas Hastings Ndlovu died from bullet wounds to the head shortly after being brought to the clinic. The 15 year old lapsed into a coma

Coma

In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

 and never recovered. The doctors were unable to save his life due to the seriousness of his wounds. It is still not clear who died first, Hector Pieterson or Hastings Ndlovu, but it is likely that Pieterson was the first death on that day.

Hastings Ndlovu was survived by his parents, three sisters and brother. His sisters left the country soon after June 16, but returned to Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 a few years later.

Hastings Ndlovu was buried with Hector Pieterson at Avalon Cemetery

Avalon Cemetery

Avalon Cemetery is one of the largest graveyards in South Africa. It was opened in 1972, during the height of apartheid, as a graveyard exclusively for blacks. More than 300,000 people are buried on its , the graves less than two feet apart. By 2010 the cemetery is expected to be at capacity,...

in Johannesburg.