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34 years ago, to the day, South African activist Dulcie September was murdered in Paris. She was the representative in France of the ANC, the liberation movement of Nelson Mandela, when the apartheid regime was in force in South Africa. The perpetrators of the murder were never identified and the justice closed the file.
On March 29, 1988, shortly before 10 a.m., Dulcie September was shot dead in front of the ANC offices in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Five bullets fired at close range. From the start of the investigation, his relatives accuse the South African secret services.
A few years later, a former leader of South African death squads confesses – before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission responsible for shedding light on the crimes of apartheid – having ordered the murder of the activist. He claims that one of the two killers was a French mercenary.
► To read and listen: Assassination of Dulcie September in Paris in 1988: “The file must be re-examined”
No culprit will ever be identified by the French courts, which in July 1992 closed the case without further action. Since then, the activist’s family has been trying to obtain the reopening of the investigation. Twice, the French justice rejected the request.
According to Dutch and South African journalists, Dulcie September was at the time investigating French arms sales to South Africa, in full apartheid and in violation of the international embargo. For the anti-apartheid activist, Jacqueline Derensfriend of Dulcie September, the latter had put her finger on a sensitive subject and had become embarrassing not only for the apartheid regime, but also for France.
« Murder in Paris »
On this anniversary date, the film Murder in Paris which looks back on the assassination of Dulcie September was screened on March 29 in Arcueil, where the activist lived. Screening for the first time in France, in preview and in the presence of relatives and the director of this documentary, the South African Enver Samuel and in which he raises many questions.
enver samuel : There has still been no justice in this case. And we hope through this film to open the eyes of the public to what happened and the need for justice. This process has already begun with the family and the French lawyers who are pushing for the reopening of the investigation. And we do hope that one day we will get answers to: who killed Dulcie September and why?
RFI: Precisely, in your film, you raise many questions
enver samuel : The most important question is why. Why was Dulcie September killed? But that leads to other questions… Was it just a South African commando? Were other actors involved? Is there a French complicity? I think that today all the evidence in the film suggests that there was connivance from France. But all these questions remain unanswered.
In South Africa we had our Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which tried to raise some questions, but we never really got an answer. That’s why 30 years later, families are still looking for answers.
RFI: Has your film opened up new avenues?
enver samuel : We relied on the work of several journalists, such as Evelyn Groenink who worked for 30 years on the subject, or the South African Hennie van Vuuren and his book Apartheid, guns and money. They ask many questions: for example, the presence of house painters that day in the building? Was it a cover for the murder. These are questions that the French lawyers for the families have also raised and for which there will have to be an investigation.
RFI: So in your documentary, you raise the question of French involvement?
enver samuel : Yes, it is a sensitive subject. What did France know? Intelligence services? We tried to get French reactions for this film; but each time, we hit a wall. This documentary touches on the question of French involvement, but to what extent and to what level? There we have no answers.
RFI: Today, the family is trying to get the file reopened. Where are they?
enver samuel : It was long and difficult. But there are positive signs. When the French president was in South Africa last year, he was questioned on the subject, and he replied “we will watch”. So that’s encouraging
RFI: Do you think your film can help?
enver samuel : Yes absolutely, today there are many more people who know Dulcie September than before, here in France, but also in South Africa. Because his name had been practically forgotten. And I think that movie helped bring the name of Dulcie September and her story to the general public.
► Read also : Towards the third death of Dulcie September