United Nations' secretary general Kofi Annan and his wife Nane Annan talk to Soweto schoolchildren during a visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

RELATED LINKS: The powerful Apartheid Museum AFTER a few hours at the Apartheid Museum you will feel that you were in the townships in the 1970s and 1980s, dodging police bullets or teargas canisters, or marching and toyi-toying with thousands of school children, or carrying the body of a comrade into a nearby house. Read more Hector: the famous child whose face is unknown THE Hector Pieterson Museum opens on Youth Day, 16 June, but don't expect to come away with an image of what Hector looked like - the family does not have a single snapshot of its famous son. Read more Soweto grows as tourist attraction VISITOR numbers to Soweto have grown by 20 percent over the past two years, and more than 18 percent of first-time foreign visitors to Gauteng go to Soweto. Read more

Kofi Annan visits Hector Pieterson Memorial On a three-day trip to South Africa, the secretary general of the United Nations laid a wreath at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West, Soweto. March 15, 2006 By Ndaba Dlamini ORLANDO West almost came to a standstill when United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto. Accompanied by his wife Nane and Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour, Annan was welcomed and taken on a brief tour of the memorial by Johannesburg's city manager, Pascal Moloi; the City's director of arts, culture and heritage, Steven Sack; and City officials, on Wednesday, 15 March. Johannesburg's city manager Pascal Moloi greets United Nations' secretary general Koffi Annan during a visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg) Annan is on a three-day visit to South Africa. Some motorists, eager to catch a glimpse of the head of the UN, parked their cars on the side of the road, oblivious of the traffic jam they were causing. A few women ululated. With the sound of beating drums from a curio dealer in the background, Annan laid a wreath at the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Hector, a 12-year-old boy, was one of the first casualties of the Soweto uprising of 16 June, 1976, when more than 500 people were killed as they protested against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools. Immediately after laying the wreath a chorus of "We love you Kofi Annan" rose from excited children from Mdelwa Hlongwane Primary School in Soweto. Annan also had a chance to chat to learners from Edenvale High School on a tour of the site. "It was such an experience to speak to the secretary general of the United Nations. It's a fortunate coincidence we visited the site at the same time," said an excited learner, Louise du Toit. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za