Not goodbye, says Hammerl's widow

2011-07-02 18:00

Johannesburg - This was not goodbye, only "see you later", slain South African photographer Anton Hammerl's wife said during his memorial service held in Parktown North, Johannesburg on Saturday.

In her tribute Penny Sukhraj said it was difficult speaking about her husband in the past tense.

"Life for him was really about reaping what you sow."

The last time they spoke was the night before Hammerl was shot, she said.

"He glowed...he had the shine of a man who was absolutely alive."

When Sukhraj received the phone call to inform her of her husband's death she sank to her knees sobbing, she said.

"I'll miss your fierce intellect... I missed you from the moment you left.

"I can't believe I will never again on this earth see your smiling sunflower eyes again."

Sukhraj travelled to South Africa to attend Anton's memorial service at His People Christian Church, with their daughter Aurora and two sons Neo and Hiro.

Over a hundred people huddled together underneath bare winter trees as they waited to enter the church for the memorial service on Saturday.

Sentimental tribute

In a sentimental tribute to Hammerl, his best friend Ziemek Pater described their group of friends as a "family of searching youths" and told stories about the antics they got up to.

He said Hammerl was someone who always had a plan and it was a privilege to have known him.

Pastor Roger Pearce said Hammerl showed grace and was committed to truth.

"Anton was a gift to us all."

In his tribute, SA National Editors Forum chairperson Mondli Makhanya said Hammerl lived his life to the fullest.

Makhanya described him as "the crazy guy with the funny hats and strange goatees. The guy who really lived life".

"We should be proud as South African journalists that we produced someone of his calibre."

An honorary Libyan

A activist organisation in Tripoli the Free Generation Movement, in a message read by Peta Krost-Mauder an ex-colleague of Hammerl, thanked him for his passion and bravery.

They declared Hammerl an "honorary Libyan".

Thereafter the congregation tearfully viewed a slideshow of the last photographs Hammerl took in Libya before he died.

Messages from the journalists who were with Hammerl when he was shot were read by Des Latham, online editor for Business Day, and Paula Fray, former editor of the Saturday Star and regional director of Inter Press Service.

American journalists Clare Gillis and James Foley described Hammerl as a quiet authority and someone with an incredible openness in his eyes.

"He was a man you wanted by you side," James Foley said in his message.

Gave his life

"He was the best of us. He gave his life trying to save us."

Hammerl, who held dual South African and Austrian citizenship, was covering the conflict in Libya when he was shot by militia loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi near the town of Brega.

According to Gillis and Foley and Spanish photographer Manu Brabo, Hammerl was left to die in the desert after the three were arrested.

He was shot on April 5, but news of his death surfaced more than six weeks later, when the three journalists were released and told his wife they saw him being shot.

South Africa accused the Libyan government of lying about Hammerl, after it assured officials he was safe, even though it knew he had been killed.

President Jacob Zuma asked Gaddafi, during discussions in May, to help locate Hammerl's remains.

- SAPA