APRIL 2021 NEWSLETTER

MURDER IN is a political crim e thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti- activist, Dulcie September. The story travels from the heart of Paris in March 1988 to the pursuit of justice in 2021.

Say her name: Dulcie September!

Dulcie September’s life exemplified moral courage. It guided and informed her actions, giving meaning and significance to her work as a liberation heroine.

Let’s all shout: Justice for Dulcie!... Say her name! Thank you for being part of this journey.

Enver Samuel - Director, Murder in Paris REMEMBER DULCIE SEPTEMBER: Viewers' Thoughts on the Film

Thank you to all those who took the time to respond to the SABC broadcasts of Murder in Paris. Here are a few of the comments we received:

Dulcie did not deserve to die in the manner in which it had happened and your documentary succeeds in bringing out this point. Many think that being overseas in the struggle was part of a holiday but it was not so! Your documentary has been well researched and I hope it gets an even wider circulation besides only South Africa. There are many South African stories that still need to be told and is left to you and the younger generation to continue with this work. Harold

Beautifully done, cinematically and in terms of the research you put in it. A wonderful portrayal, so sensitively done. Some surprising revelations. Professor Pumla Gobodo- Madikizela

Thank you for the film. Seeing the life and what led up to the assassination of Anti-apartheid activist Dulcie September was fascinating and enlightening. Stories like these need to be told. Thula Sindi

Just wanted to say how important the film is to deal with our history critically. We need more of it. Keep on at it. Our children will look for answers when the ash-heap shows no flicker to re-ignite. Keep up the work you do, it is important. Horst Kleinschmidt

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Congratulations for your excellent documentary on Comrade Dulcie. I hope it will be shown again on SABC 3. Sheila Sisulu

This is the first programme I have watched on any SABC TV channel in probably the last 5 years. Well worth watching and I hope that similar quality programmes will be forthcoming on SABC. Peter Devey

Watching Murder in Paris brought back memories … even though we all heard of all the dirty dancing the French did behind closed doors related to all the arms dealings with South Africa during and after Apartheid. Jody-Layne Surtie

I was fascinated by what the documentary revealed, especially the link between the arms deal and the French arms dealers. Elmarie Williams

I suppose the underlying attitudes that drive executions on foreign soil are about power. Jamal Khashoggi being a more recent victim of the same megalomaniacal trait. toni_gon

If it wasn't for this insightful & important doccie, I wouldn't have known about this legendary struggle Icon of SA history, thank you. Shabier Jacobs

Thank you for telling her amazing story. So sad, so moving. So many unanswered questions. She was murdered - and failed- by many. Thank you for shining the spotlight on her life. Jermaine Craig

If you are able to travel, the Dulcie September traveling exhibition which is on display at Freedom Park in Pretoria until the end of Freedom Month and will then move to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg. The exhibition commemorates September’s life through her family’s personal archives, police records, records from her Paris office and newspaper clippings.

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The Teacher Who did her Homework

For more than three decades, ZAM's Investigations Editor Evelyn Groenink researched the murder of Paris ANC representative Dulcie September in 1988. The complex backgrounds of this gruesome act presented in Groenink's book Incorruptible were long ignored. Until now.

Before she left for exile in 1973, Dulcie September was a school teacher. A serious one. She cared about her kids, cared so much that one of the reasons she left was that she had been banned from ever teaching in South Africa again. One of her reasons to join the struggle against apartheid had been what Bantu education was doing to her country’s children. Dulcie September never stopped being a school teacher. In exile, her syllabus became the Freedom Charter, and she would consistently remind everyone, inside and outside the ANC, what that syllabus prescribed.-Pat R Southowe, Ho nAfricaorable Mwasenti oton belong to all who lived in it, with learning, culture and comfort accessible to all. There were to be human rights and social justice for all. To achieve this was the task, the job, the homework, for all in the movement.

Several ANC members in exile told me how they were in awe of Dulcie September’s seriousness in that regard. She should not catch you doing a shoddy job, neglect your homework, or knocking off at four PM to go jol somewhere in a pub in London or Toronto, not when there was still unfinished business on your desk. She would give you an earful. But, as any good teacher and educator, she was sweet, too. A young employee at her office floor in Paris told me that he saw her as a mamie confiture, which loosely translates as an aunt who bakes jam tarts for you. Conny Braam, the

M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R A P R I L 2 0 2 1 chair of the AAM in Holland, told me that when she visited Lusaka, highly pregnant, and was part of a group travelling on the back of a truck, Dulcie held her tummy tight to protect it from all the bumping and shaking. Dulcie September cared for kids, for the young generations, for South Africa and for the struggle, and for doing your homework and delivering on the job you were tasked to do. That is probably why she would not, as another ANC diplomat once told me, close her eyes when she came across illicit military and nuclear collaboration between Paris and Pretoria, shortly before she was assassinated with five bullets in her face, in her own office in Paris, on 29 March 1988, with a lot of unfinished business on her desk.

I was part of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Amsterdam at the time and I decided to do a story on her and the murder. I was – we all were – simply shocked. We were in Western democracies. Our governments were against apartheid. We had sanctions. How could this happen? In Paris, five hundred kilometres from Amsterdam? She was murdered in our back yard. This was our homework. I went to Paris. I did not expect that the article I then intended to write would to take me over thirty years to – almost – fully complete. But, slowly, Dulcie September’s unfinished business became mine.

Read the rest of the article here.

This article is based on Evelyn Groenink’s speech given at the Dulcie September -Pat Rowe, Honorable Mention Lecture at Freedom Park organised on 18 March 2020, in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Remembering Dulcie

If you missed the Dulcie September Annual Lecture held virtually on 18 March 2021 at Freedom Park in Pretoria in collaboration with EMS Productions and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, you can now watch it: ow.ly/1nFf50Ejt6a. Author and investigative journalist Evelyn Groenink gave the keynote address, Dulcie's nephew Michael Arendse and Murder in Paris director Enver Samuel as well Verne Harris from Nelson Mandela Foundation also spoke. A 20 minute version of the 1 hour programme was broadcast on SABC News Channel 404: http://ow.ly/Weoh50ElvZb

The South African Embassy in France in collaboration with the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape held a Webinar commemorating the life of Dulcie September on 29 March 2021. If you missed it, please view it at: https://youtu.be/H5SJp39iEDY. The keynote was delivered by Dulcie's close friend, Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza, Former Chief Representative of the African National Congress (ANC) to Sweden.

On 30 March 2021, the South African Ambassador to France, Tebogo Seokolo paid tribute to Dulcie September at a wreath laying ceremony at "Place Dulcie September", a square named after her in Paris. Ambassador Seokolo is South Africa’s Ambassador to France and Monaco as well as Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R Marcus Solomon with Betty van der Heyden BEHIND THE SCENES: Meet Marcus Solomon

Marcus Solomon was born in Grahamstown and spent much of his childhood in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape, becoming a street preacher by his teens and being very involved in playing rugby. After receiving his junior certificate Solomon began working onM U RtrainsD E R I Nand P A RinI S 1957N E W SheL E TwTentE R to to continue his studies and soon switched his belief in God as a transformer of the world to the masses. While he attended Trafalgar High School he played rugby for the City Suburban Rugby Union, believing that playing sports together helped young people overcome sectional divisions. He matriculated in 1958 and then attended attended Hewat Training College where he joined the Cape Peninsula Students Union (CPSU),serving as its librarian and treasurer and on its bursary committee. Here he met the circle of friends that Dulcie September also knew.

He obtained a teacher’s certificate from Hewat in 1960 and taught at Kensington High School from April to December 1961, then at Walmer Street Primary School in Woodstock. He was a founder member of the African People’s Democratic Union (APDU) in 1960, and continued his membership the next year, when it became the African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA) – to include Namibia (then South West Africa). Although he soon became critical of APDUSA, he remained a member.

In 1961 Fikile Bam invited him to join the Society of Young Africa (SOYA), another NEUM affiliate. Cape Town had a vibrant intellectual life that included study groups and a broader environment of movies, reading and discussions. Solomon joined his first study group in 1961. In May 1962, he 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 A P R I L 2 0 2 1 helped organize the Yu Chi Chan Club, a study group concerned with methods of struggle, especially guerrilla struggle. The group included Kenny and Tillie Abrahams, Neville Alexander, Betty van der Heyden, Fikile Bam, Xenophon Pitt, Andreas Shipanga, David Hafecue and Dulcie September. It met fortnightly, and its programme included lectures, which were usually written, copied and distributed, along with suggested reading.

The YCCC was dissolved in late 1962 and replaced in January 1963 by the National Liberation Front (NLF), which was intended to be a network of cells studying guerrilla warfare and its applicability to South Africa. Solomon’s cell included Kenny Abrahams, Gordon Hendricks, Dulcie September, Elizabeth van der Heyden, Lionel Davis and Brian Landers. As part of their efforts to establish a network, Solomon travelled to the Eastern Cape but upon his return to Cape Town he was arrested M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R On 15 April 1964 Neville Alexander, Fikile Bam, Solomon and eight other National Liberation Front members (including Dulcie) were found guilty of conspiring to overthrow the government by means of violent revolution, guerrilla warfare and sabotage. Solomon was sentenced to ten years and sent to Robben Island. To read more about Marcus visit SA History Online.

Marcus Solomon and Betty van der Heyden serve as a vital link to the world in which Dulcie September grew up and became politically aware and we are grateful to them for their support of Murder in Paris and generosity with their time and networks to help us remember Dulcie.

After watching Murder in Paris, Marcus writes to Enver:

The story of Dulcie September is not only the story of an individual, but it also captures the story of a family, the community in which she grew up and her growth as a politically conscious person and activist. She is the product of all of these influences and, of course, the ANC, under whose banner and in whose service her life was so tragically ended. Those of us who knew her, know that she believed that she died in the service of the people of South Africa and all the oppressed and exploited across the world. It is a truly gripping bit of investigative journalism even though the murderer/s have still 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 A P R I L 2 0 2 1 to be identified. But we know who they are: those who work for and benefit from the international Arms Trade.

All the evidence the documentary presents leaves no doubt that Dulcie got to know too much and had to be silenced. What the movie also captures, is the manner in which the Arms Trade continues to play a role in the politics, economy and life of South Africa. There has been no break in the continuation of that trade. So, Part 3 of the story you have begun, is waiting to be told because the sad and tragic tale of the Arms Trade continues. The old South Africa of Racial Capitalism continues unabated but under new management.

Watching Murder in Paris, brought back memories of the Dulcie with whom I and many other grew up politically in the CPSU and the NLF and with whom we went to prison for ourM UinvolvementR D E R I N P A R inI S NtheE W activitiesS L E T T E R of the Yui Chi Chan Club. Those of us who knew her were not surprised that she joined the ANC although she grew up under a different political tradition. Once she became politically conscious, she was determined that she would make her contribution to the liberation struggle. What is tragic however, is the manner in which the Liberation struggle has been betrayed.

The shots of her speaking about her work, addressing meetings, etc., were emotional moments. She was, for those split few seconds on the screen, alive again. Almost, like in the words of Joe Hill in the song by that name: I never died you know. May Dulcie’s spirit and vision live on. Aluta Continua.

Marcus Solomon Accused Number 3.

Enver Samuel, Marcus Solomon with Rhomeez Petersen

M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R TO LISTEN & READ: They Killed Dulcie Podcast Series / Apartheid, Guns and Money

The podcast They Killed Dulcie is made by Sound Africa: the first episode begins in Cape Town in the 1930s, and ends on a staircase in Paris more than 50 years later. It sets the scene for an eight part podcast series that winds its way around the world and ends in 2019. Dulcie has been erased from South Africa’s history books, though not entirely from our memories. They Killed Dulcie but they could not erase her. Access the webisodes here: https://www.opensecrets.org.za/they-killed-dulcie-podcast-series/

They Killed Dulcie draws from research by Open Secrets ZA and the book by author Hennie Van Vuuren: Apartheid Guns and Money: A tale of profit. Open Secrets has been pursuing work arising from its research on apartheid-era economic crimes since 2017 and embarking on new investigations. They expose and build accountability for private sector economic crimes through investigative research, advocacy, and the law.

South Africa remains a deeply unequal society battling the legacy of apartheid and the persistence of corrupt networks that seek to ‘capture’ its democratically elected leaders. In Apartheid Guns and Money, Hennie argues that, in the absence of accountability, corrupt networks of the past stay in business. Rather than face justice, they invite members of the new elite to the table. The meticulously researched book finally lifts the lid on some of the darkest secrets of apartheid’s economic crimes, weaving together a treasure trove of newly declassified documents and eyewitness accounts.

Apartheid Guns and Money can be purchased in South Africa through Loot and in the UK through Hurst Publishers.

M U R D E R I N P A R I S N E W S L E T T E R TO DIARISE: Nelson Mandela Foundation Webinar The Nelson Mandela Foundation in collaboration with EMS Productions invite you to a dialogue: September Amnesia: Reckoning with the life and still unexplained murder of Dulcie September on 26 April 2021 at 3-5pm.

Speakers: Enver Samuel, Director of Murder in Paris Nicola Arendse, Dulcie's youngest niece Busi Seabe, Social Activist, Political Analyst and Author Kelly-Eve Koopman, Writer and Social Justice Activist Register through this link.

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.

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