MARCH 2021 NEWSLETTER
MURDER IN PARIS is a political crime thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist, Dulcie September. The story travels from the heart of Paris in March 1988 to the pursuit of justice in 2021. M A R C H 2 0 2 1 A Note from Enver... Sunday March 21st, Human Rights Day - an important day for all South Africans - marks a significant crossroads for me. It’s the culmination of a 4 year journey begun in April 2017. A chance meeting in Switzerland with Randolph Arendse, a close relative of Dulcie September led to the long road of making a documentary on a truly remarkable woman. The road was full of obstacles, twists and turns but staying true to the course won in the end.
When you read the comments below from Dulcie’s family scattered throughout the diaspora you will get an inkling as to why it is critically important to make documentaries like this. While we make no attempt to claim to have definitive answers, I am hoping that in some way we can pay homage to Dulcie September, what she stood for and that the documentary can play a part in contributing to the ‘un-erasure’ of Dulcie September.
I would like to thank the family of Dulcie September for allowing me to tell her story, my family and all the crew that worked on the production.
Say her name … Dulcie September!
Murder in Paris is a documentary on Dulcie September’s life, directed and produced by Enver Michael Samuel. Coming to SABC3 in 2 parts at 7:30pm on Human Rights Day 21 March and 28 March 2021.
Murder in Paris has been supported by the National Film and Video Foundation, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sol Plaatje Educational Project, Gauteng Film Commission and Encounters / UCT Impact Springboard
The project was also presented at Durban FilmMart M A R C H 2 0 2 1
MURDER IN PARIS: Where it all began
Randolph Arendse – Switzerland
For us, my wife Francine and I, it all started with a chance meeting in 2017 with documentary filmmaker Enver Samuel in Bern at the South African Embassy’s annual Freedom Day event. Enver was a member of the Documentary Filmmakers Association and the organization was a guest of the Nyon film festival Visions du Réel.
Our meeting again the following day was instrumental in getting Murder in Paris rolling. The conversation centred on the life and assassination of Dulcie September, and we as a family relived the terrible emotions of about 30 years ago previously. Enver took a keen interest in what we could tell him of Dulcie.
The conversation took me back to the 1950s when Dulcie was our opposite neighbor in Lansdowne, Cape Town. She was known to us as the school teacher who was “involved” - a euphemism for political activists.
Years later, in the late 1970s, Francine and I spent Christmas and New Year with her in London. We got to know her a bit better … except for what she did not want to tell us. Dulcie had chosen exile and left SA on an “exit permit” after having spent five years in jail for subversive political activities in Cape Town, and another five years under house arrest.
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Since we were also active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Lausanne, Switzerland, we crossed paths again in her position as ANC chief representative to France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. She often came to Switzerland on official business, conferences and interviews.
Recalling Dulcie’s murder was even the more hurtful since a mere three months before, she had spent two weeks in our family home in Lausanne. That was the third of her holidays with us. Dulcie built up a warm family relationship with us and our two little boys, Jérôme and Alexis.
As could be expected, political analysis was inevitably part of our daily conversations... And then the five gun-shots suddenly put an end to all those privileged moments.
Her funeral in Paris was witness to her political engagement and activism with an estimated 30 000 mourners and supporters of the liberation struggle who lined the streets with members of her family present: her sister Stephanie, brother-in-law Renatus, and us.
Enver, the documentary film-maker, was all ears as we recounted this story. It co-incided with his intention to make a meaningful documentary on Dulcie September – her life, her political dedication and her death, or rather, the mystery surrounding her murder. And here-Pa the Ro wobtaine, Honoedrab lfirst-hande Mention personal information from the family: reminiscences from Theresa, her niece, who was on holiday with us, of some of the family’s worries about the well-being and finally the mystery surrounding the death of their aunt, which influenced their childhood and beyond - up to to-day. Murder in Paris retraces her life and deals with the unanswered questions of who had done it and why.
And our anger is all the more aroused by the cover-up of South Africans who were in the know. Some have died and taken the secrets with them to their graves … Pik Botha, the former SA Foreign Affairs minister, amongst others. Our deepening disappointment became real when even the TRC faltered to get witnesses to give truthful answers … Craig Williamson, the spy, for instance.
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The silence is deafening.
Our exasperation increased as some ANC comrades preferred not to have her case re-opened. In a one-on-one, 10-minute conversation about Dulcie’s assassination and the question of justice, Judge Albie Sachs told me in Switzerland after a viewing his film Soft Vengeance, that the family should be satisfied that Dulcie’s memory is honoured with street names. How insulting! And this coming from a fellow activist. It was all the more frustrating as Sachs is a former judge on the Constitutional Court of SA, and his film was screened, followed by a panel discussion, at the International Human Rights Conference in Geneva in 2014!
No matter how many streets bear her name or squares or public buildings, the family will never be satisfied until justice is done.
Dulcie was murdered in Paris, and yet the French government played the game of “Secret d’Etat” to put a stop to further investigations. The family’s latest attempt to re-open Dulcie’s case in France has not been successful up to now.
That’s another reason of our frustration to get to the bottom of her killing and to obtain legitimate justice. All other investigations point to the fact that she discovered and was about to disclose the relationship between SA and France about nuclear deals in spite of international sanctions at the time. Sound recordist Kholisile Vinqi with director Enver Samuel, France 2018 M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R M A R C H 2 0 2 1
To many she was a powerful political opponent who knew too much and therefore had to be eliminated. To us, the family, she is a hero.
We, as family, are glad that Murder in Paris will awaken interest in the part that Dulcie September played in the fight against and helping to bring about the fall of apartheid.
The 2015 theatre production of her life, Cold Case: Revisiting Dulcie September, written by Basil Appollis and Sylvia Vollenhoven, directed by Basil Appollis and starring Denise Newman emphasized her importance and memory in this town where she had lived and where she was awarded the “Human Right’s Award” in 2009.
I, again, relived the emotions of her killing and our family contributions to the documentary in 2018 when Enver was filming for the documentary at the marking of the 30th anniversary of her death in Arcueil, Paris.
In spite of our anger and frustration, what is important to us the family is that Dulcie – like many other unsung heroes who paid the supreme price by death – are the moral beacons to inspire modern-day South Africans, especially the politicians, to work for the common good of all. These heroes merit our deepest respect. Let their memory live on for future generations.
Dulcie’s nieces and nephews (Michael, Theresa, Nicola, Patrick and Clement) are now the spearhead of efforts to take forward the family’s concern of the murder of their aunt, Dulcie. Only when justice is achieved will the anger and grief subside, and will it bring closure to the family. Future generations will then not be psychologically burdened with the mystery of who killed Dulcie?
A retired clinical psychologist in Lausanne, Switzerland, Randolph Arendse was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in this country for many years. Related to Dulcie September by marriage (his brother, Dr R H Arendse, was married to Dulcie's sister, Stephanie), their paths crossed many times, particularly when Dulcie became the chief representative to France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Dulcie spent her last Christmas in December 1987 with the family at their house in Lausanne before her assassination on March 29, 1988. Sound recordist Kholisile Vinqi with director Enver Samuel, France 2018 M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R At the funeral for Dulcie's sister, Stephanie Arendse in 2016. From left to right: Michael, Nicola, Clement, Theresa and Patrick.
Michael Arendse, Cape Town
The making of the documentary, Murder in Paris, helps to keep the case alive. As we approach the 33rd anniversary of her death, the assassination still remains unsolved. It is hoped that this documentary will lead to inquests and court cases that will finally bring those who are responsible for her murder to book.
Then, the documentary honours the life's work of our aunt, and I believe that this is the work she would wish to be remembered for. By highlighting the life and activities of one anti-apartheid activist, the documentary also brings to mind the lives and work of other ordinary South Africans who fought for what they believed in – some paid the highest price, while others are still with us, guiding and showing us the way.
So, a huge thank you to filmmaker Enver Samuel for being prepared to tell the story of our Aunt Dulcie September, often at considerable personal cost. May his renown as a storyteller continue to grow for many years to come.
Theresa Arendse - Australia
After all this time, 29 March 1988 seems like yesterday. Just thinking about this day brings tears to my eyes. Soon it will be 29 March again. With the imminent release of the film about her and this newsletter, I hope that more South Africans will come to know about who Dulcie September was.
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That she came from a family that loved her, worried about her, cared for her and prayed for her. From a family that misses her and wishes for the chance just to have a chat with her and to share moments together. She would have loved to be part of the future generations even if only for a few years.
I know that while in exile, she yearned to return to South Africa one day. She wrote about this in one of her letters to my Mom. This movie reminds me to reflect on who she was. A courageous woman!
I am sure I will see and hear things in the film that will take me back. I am sure I will recall my mother’s story around the context of certain photos and events. I am so happy to hear how Enver has progressed in his research and telling of her story. It is a long way from just having a quick chat about Aunty’s life a couple of years ago in Nyon at a film festival.
It is my hope that as more people get to hear of her, Dulcie’s story, that they will show their support for what she stood for – justice. Justice in a society where even the weakest in society can live, have a plate of food each day, be educated, have meaningful work and have access to health care. Where the marginalized have a voice and are heard. I wonder what she would think if she knew what is now written about her. This is my reflection, Aunty.
Nicola Arendse – Cape Town
It is a proud moment for me as a niece of Dulcie September. This documentary, focusing on her life and assassination, I believe, will ensure that she will not be a hidden figure in South African history. It will guarantee that her work will not be minimised and her contribution to the liberation of this country be made insignificant.
I did not have the chance to talk with her and listen to her tell her story with her own voice using her own words. The opportunity for her to educate me, to tell me about her life in exile, her reasons for leaving the country on an exit permit, the cost of living in exile, the work she did; all these opportunities were taken away when she was assassinated.
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My hope is that this documentary will tell her story, unpack the reasons she was targeted, and help to identify those parties who may have benefited from her death. I hope it will show her strength of character, her unwavering commitment to this country's liberation struggle and shed light on the reason she had to pay the ultimate price in living this commitment.
Patrick Arendse - Australia
Who killed Aunty Dulcie is to my knowledge the biggest mystery in my family history. To all those who have so diligently throughout the years tirelessly toiled to uncover the truth, know that every effort expended inevitable leads us to the truth one step at a time. And so I see this documentary as another important step that will lead us to the truth – the truth that will help us to bring the so much needed closure and healing, not just for our family but all those who have fought for the freedom of all South Africans to live out their God-given dignity.
Aunty Dulcie suffered much and fought a hard fight during her life and it is only fitting that the truth surrounding her assassination finally be uncovered so she may be afforded her rightful place in South African history.
I am saddened that my Mom (Stephanie) went to her grave never knowing the truth regarding her sister's death but I rest in the fact the she has gone to a place where all is and will be revealed and where Dulcie and Stephanie now rest having being set free by the truth.
Clement Arendse - England
In many ways, Aunty Dulcie symbolises those who believed in doing the difficult, hard work away from the limelight and sacrificed everything for the greater good. Her uncompromising values and absolute rejection of state- level trickery and corruption is a beacon of hope to me particularly in these times. She and many others who are unknown, have put aside their personal ambitions to fight for rights that most people take for granted today.
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The release of the documentary will bring Aunty Dulcie's struggle to life and must renew our determination to defend and protect those hard-fought rights. My hope is that it helps break the silence and indifference to bring about the answers to our shunned questions that have eluded a deeply hurt family for a generation. I know that her sister Stephanie, my dear mother, would have been very pleased to see its release.
My sincerest thanks to all those who have contributed to this documentary and especially to Enver Samuel and his team without whose dogged determination and hard work this would not have been possible.
DULCIE in the media... INDEPENDENT ONLINE + Murder in Paris trailer Murdered for politics or profit? New doccie sheds light on Dulcie September’s assassination: Those with power simply had too much to lose. Was Dulcie murdered because she had uncovered evidence and was about to become a whistle blower? Read the article
SAfm Enver and Nicola Arendse, Dulcie September’s niece, joined The ViewPoint with Songezo Mabece. "Dulcie September was too close to the truth when it came to the trade of weapons and the relationship between the Apartheid government and French arms companies," says Enver. Listen to the discussion (26 minutes)
INDEPENDENT ONLINE Opinion Piece: OR Tambo’s promise on Dulcie September At her funeral in 1988, ANC president OR Tambo had said, “The ANC makes this solemn vow that these murderers, who today arrogantly strut the globe will be brought to justice”. It is time to fulfil Tambo’s promise. Read the article
M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R OPINION PIECE: The Need to Know Haunts the Present and the Past: The Unsolved Murder of a Struggle Hero
Jonathan D Jansen: Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University
There is something eerily familiar about Dulcie September. Her roots in Kewtown and Gleemoor represent familiar places of my youth. These are areas where friends and family lived, and where church and schools gave us founding values. Like many of my generation from these parts, it was not congress politics (the ANC, PAC) that initially shaped our political consciousness, but a left politics represented by groups like the New Unity Movement and stalwarts like Neville Alexander.
At first glance, Dulcie could be an aunt on either side of the family. She was also a teacher and one of my friends claims that to this day she has her Sub A report with Dulcie’s signature in it. Teacher Dulcie would be arrested in front of her class of 6-7 year old’s at the then Bridgetown East Primary School, instantly traumatizing the poor children.
And yet for many South Africans, Dulcie September is not a familiar name or face from the anti-apartheid struggle. In one of my presentations around the country on the subject of leadership, I end with three photos of exemplary leaders---Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu, and Dulcie September. I have yet to find someone in the audience of corporates or NGO activists or educators who recognize the woman struggle leader.
That lack of recognition of a South African hero is about to change with the release of the documentary called Murder in Paris. Completed 33 years after her death, the film is an attempt to explain the horrific assassination of the ANC’s representative in Paris on 29 March 1988 at the moment when she unlocked the offices of her political organization.
The murder made no sense. Dulcie was not one of the top or recognizable
M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R M A R C H 2 0 2 1 leaders of the organization like Oliver Tambo or Thabo Mbeki. The shooting took place in the heart of a sophisticated European capital with a government that on paper supported the liberation movements. Murder in Paris explores the reasons for this as yet unsolved assassination of a gentle soul.
Is it possible that Dulcie knew something dangerous---like an illegal and clandestine trade in military weaponry between the French government and the anti-apartheid regime? Looking back, I would not be surprised if a scandal of this order led to the death of the Athlone teacher and ANC envoy for Luxembourg, Switzerland, and France.
There is however a broader question worth pondering. What is it about the French and South Africa when it comes to arms deals? As recently as January this year (2021) the French company Thales (previously called Thomson-CSF) was in the Pietermaritzburg High Court fighting racketeering charges related to the multi-billion Rand arms deal of 1999 that implicates former President Zuma in corruption and money laundering. It is the possibility of an unbroken line of lethal corruption under and after apartheid centered on military hardware that should concern us. At least one historian, the late Stephen Ellis, would make the point that networks of corruption run deep within the history and operations of liberation movements. And what the arms trade generates is a massive amount of money inside a murky set of transnational arrangements that could make instant millionaires out of venal politicians.
I will wait to see how Murder in Paris takes on this subject, given that investigations by both the TRC and the French were inconclusive as to who killed Dulcie September, and why. One thing we know is that this principled fighter would have blown the whistle on our thoroughly corrupted government in post-apartheid South Africa. She would have been surprised to see the criminally charged escorted to the courts by ululating party members. She would have been outraged at the sheer scale of corruption--- and the denial of corruption---within state-owned enterprises.
As in Paris in 1988, Dulcie September would once again have been in mortal danger for speaking out against official criminality because she truly did believe in a better life for all.
M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R BEHIND THE SCENES: Meet Jacqueline Dérens
As we celebrate International Women’s Month globallly and Human Rights Month in South Africa, we are reminded that stories about the anti-apartheid movement are most of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Walter Sisulu - but what about the women?
Jacqueline Dérens is a French writer, translator and former English teacher who became an anti-apartheid activist in the 1970s. In 1979, Jacqueline met Dulcie September who became her close friend. She has not only given us direct insight into Dulcie's life in France but has been an invaluable supporter of Murder in Paris from the very beginning.
Jacqueline became active in anti-apartheid in 1975. She used the trade unions as a way of reaching the larger corporations in order to stop them trading with South Africa. Her main focus was to have a campaign for political prisoners and to impose an embargo on South Africa. Along with Macel Tigon and others, Derens founded the Rencontre Nationale Contre L’Apartheid (National Gathering Against Apartheid) to provide support for Dulcie September, the ANC’s Chief Representative in France. From 1986 to 1994 she was secretary general of Rencontre Nationale contre l’apartheid and in 1994, she founded the association RENAPAS, (Rencontre avec le Peuple d’Afrique du Sud).
In 2012, she published a book on Dulcie titled "Dulcie September: a Life for
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Liberty" (2013) and "Women of South Africa: a History of Resistance" followed in 2019.
Jacqueline often met South African leaders and among them Nelson Mandela with whom she had discussions on several occasions.
Merci Jacqueline! We salute you and your great work for the past 4 decades!
After seeing Murder in Paris, Jacqueline writes to Enver:
I first met Dulcie in 1979 at Unesco in Paris for the Children International Year. I was very impressed when she talked about the suffering of children under apartheid. I never forgot this passionate voice. Last time I saw her she was wrapped in white linen in the morgue in Paris in March 1988.
Watching Murder in Paris was a very intense experience. For ten years I saw, talked, argued, agreed or not, drank wine and ate Roquefort with Dulcie. And five bullets put an end to her dream: coming back to a free South Africa.
To see and hear all the protagonists of this tragedy - Craig Williamson (the spy I met in Geneva in a solidarity event for the ANC!!!), the comrade minister, Aziz Pahad; the experts on arms deals and dirty tricks, Hennie van Vuuren, and Martin van Geems, the poor chap who was arrested as a suspect, an easy scapegoat - it sends me back to the difficult years of the struggle.
The film looks like a thriller but it is no thriller, it gives a vivid picture of the life of a passionate, hard-working woman who died for her ideal. She should never be forgotten and Murder in Paris is here now for old and young generations to think of Dulcie, as the champion against racism and injustice.
M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R BEHIND THE SCENES: Stitching the Story of Murder in Paris
Dr Nikki Comninos
I have been working with Enver on Murder in Paris for the last two and a half years and now the time has come for an audience to watch. This is when a film truly begins its life. It is always a very exciting, and also terrifying, moment.
Editing Murder in Paris has been a fulfilling experience. I first worked with Enver in 2011, almost accidentally, and was very pleased when he reached out to me afterwards to cut his passion project, Indians Can't Fly his first documentary on Ahmed Timol. And so began a great working relationship.
Like Enver, pro-social documentary and political narratives are what excite me and I relish the opportunity to cut these kinds of films. Cutting this first story of Ahmed Timol laid the ground for our working relationship. After Indian's Can't Fly we collaborated again on Enver's second film about Timol, Someone to Blame, which focused on The Inquest. They were a satisfying diptych and traveled well both locally and abroad.
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Dulcie September was Enver's next character and our third meeting of minds. Murder in Paris has become a film I think we have both cherished making. During our ten year working relationship we have developed language together - we communicate verbally, non-verbally and in image and our edit space is a calm one. During the making of Murder in Paris we became close to Dulcie - almost thinking of her as a friend, treating her and her story very carefully.
Although the film making process lasted about three years, as the editor, I worked intermittently on the cut and our edit days were modest during this course of time as we both took on other work in between to keep ticking over. This slow film making has given the film a mature note - like a slow stew finding its full flavour. Most content today is shot and cut fast to be served up real quick. The time we had to think over story beats and gain distance from the project during down time was unusual for me but also wonderful. Dulcie's story required quiet rumination and gentle unfolding of hidden revelations and our process mimicked this narrative as we took our time to find the story that was not well trodden.
Working with archive is always something I enjoy and Enver sourced both personal and news archive from the 1980s which was a rich source of emotion in the edit. COVID, of course, impacted us as it has impacted the world. Pick up shoots in Europe could no longer happen but we accepted that and continued on studiously behind our masks. The impact campaign behind this film is very exciting and I look forward to the film's reach and the feedback it will receive in the varied audiences who will get to see it.
Murder in Paris is a documentary on Dulcie September’s life, directed and produced by Enver Michael Samuel. Coming to SABC3 in 2 parts at 7:30pm on Human Rights Day 21 March and 28 March 2021.
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If you would like to assist the impact campaign or to arrange a screening in your community, please contact Enver on [email protected]