Ken Oosterbroek - Death

Death

Oosterbroek was killed by friendly fire in Thokoza township, about 25 km east of Johannesburg, on 18 April — days before the 1994 elections in South Africa, the country's first all-race elections. He and other photographers were covering a clash between peacekeepers and the African National Congress when the peacekeepers opened fire and shot Oosterbroek and fellow Bang-Bang Club member Greg Marinovich.

In July 1995, South Africa began a fifteen-month inquest into Oosterbroek's death. Despite overwhelming evidence and ballistics proving that only the peacekeepers were close enough to have shot and killed him, the magistrate ruled that no one could be found responsible for Oosterbroek's death. However, in January 1999, fellow photographer Greg Marinovich, a close friend of Ken's, had a chance meeting with one of the peacekeepers who had been fighting in Thokoza the day of Oosterbroek's death, Brian Mkhize. Although Mkhize initially claimed it must have been Inkatha supporters shooting from the hostel that were responsible, on 14 February 1999, he admitted that out of fear and panic, the peacekeepers had unthinkingly opened fire. He stated: "I think, somewhere, somehow... I think somewhere, one of us, the bullet that killed your brother — it came from us."

Kevin Carter wrote about Ken Oosterbroek in his suicide note, "I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."

Oosterbroek's life and photographs are recorded in The Invisible Line: The life and photography of Ken Oosterbroek by Mike Nicol (Kwela Books & Random House 1998).