Johannesburg - Veteran photographer Alf Kumalo, who for more than half a century captured some of SA’s more iconic moments, has died.
Kumalo died on Sunday, aged 82, in his sleep at his home in Diepkloof, Soweto. He had been suffering from prostate cancer.
On Sunday night, some of those who had worked with the man who always carried a camera around his neck and wore a panama hat remembered him.
Dave Hazelhurst, executive editor on The Star, described Kumalo as “a man of brilliance and courage”.
He said: “We met more than 50 years ago when he was on Drum and I was at Golden City Post, and we forged a lifelong friendship. It was clear right from the start that Alf was an exceptional person, both as a human being and a professional photographer.”
Former Star journalist and businesswoman Maud Motanyane said she and the SABC’s Bessie Tugwana had visited “Bra Alf” in hospital. Describing him as “gracious even on his deathbed”, Motanyane said Kumalo’s first comment was on how beautiful and well dressed they were.
“His eyes never missed beauty. He spoke about pictures throughout the visit. The legend has gone but the legacy remains.”
Kumalo and his camera were there at the Treason Trial and the Rivonia Trial. He covered the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, but didn’t miss the quieter moments either.
In his museum in Diepkloof there are prints of Nelson Mandela playing with his dog at his house in Vilakazi Street.
Kumalo had a talent for making friends and keeping them.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a friend, as was boxer Muhammad Ali.
Kumalo watched Ali square off with George Foreman in the then Zaire during the epic Rumble in the Jungle.
He captured in a single frame the victorious Ali and the defeated world champion George Foreman’s lonely walk to his corner.
“Normally, you don’t observe that the loser is so isolated after a fight,” Kumalo said of the photograph.
Author Tanya Farber, who wrote a biography on Kumalo, spent many hours with him.
“I was gobsmacked at how upbeat he always was,” she said. “He never showed even the smallest sign of cynicism, despite all he had witnessed.”
Madikizela-Mandela said: “It’s a painful thing… We are just so shattered.”