March 2021 Newsletter
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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. 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 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. 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 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.