More than 30 years after the assassination in Paris of Dulcie September, the documentary Murder in Paris returning to the case was screened on Wednesday May 4 at the residence of the French ambassador in Pretoria. On March 29, 1988, the South African representative in France of the ANC, Nelson Mandela’s party, was shot dead in front of her offices with five bullets to the head. While the case has been dismissed by the French courts, and the perpetrators of the crime never formally identified, the directors want the case to be reopened.
With our special correspondent in Pretoria, Claire Bargeles
For director Enver Samuel, it is important that his film continues to circulate, to accompany the request for reopening of the file with the French courts:
” It is not simply a question of who pulled the trigger, but also who decided on this assassination. The family wants to have all these answers, and to know why there has been all this long silence. I think that today, we must try to make enough noise so that the case is reopened. »
The documentary follows journalist Evelyn Groenink’s investigation and the supposed links between the assassination of Dulcie September and his research on French arms sales to the embargoed apartheid regime.
It may therefore be surprising that the screening takes place within the residence of France, but for the ambassador Aurélien Lechevallier, the light must be shed on this affair:
” There are indeed suspicions concerning the involvement of certain services, not only French but also South African. Me, I think you have to be comfortable with all that, it’s part of a work of memory. As you have seen, on the African continent and elsewhere, France is committed to this work of remembrance. You have to be transparent, you have to be clear and you have to participate in this work with everyone, so that the truth is revealed and, if possible, all justice is done. »
According to Enver Samuel, the request to reopen the file should be examined again by the French courts within the next few weeks.