Cape Town - Members of the family of assassinated ANC political activist Dulcie September will be in a Paris court today for the hearing of a civil matter about whether the French government should have accorded her protection when she alerted local police that her life was in danger.
Athlone-born September was the chief representative for the ANC in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg at the time of her murder in Paris on March 29, 1988.
The tribunal judiciaire de Paris (Court of Paris) will hear final arguments in a case brought by the Mandela Foundation which will determine whether the French state should have acceded to her request after she had asked them twice for protection.
September’s nephew, Michael Arendse, said on Tuesday that the most favourable outcome the family could wish for from the hearing would be a ruling that the French state erred in not providing his aunt with security even after she had requested it.
He said the family’s lawyer told them this would be the best approach, and such a result would lead to an inquest, and depending on the findings, they could go to a full-blown court case.
“Needless to say, we will be guided by our advocate in Paris on the next steps.”
Arendse said his younger brother, Clement, who lived in England, and his uncle Randolph, who lived in Switzerland, would attend the hearing on behalf of the family.
Most of the speculation about September’s assassination points to the apartheid regime, as at the time she was investigating weapons trafficking between France and South Africa.
September, who was 52 at the time, was assassinated on the morning of March 28, 1988 outside the ANC’s Paris office. She was shot five times in the head with a .22 calibre silenced rifle.
Over the years, efforts to find the culprits have come to nought.
Arendse said: “As her family, we are heartened that this hearing is finally taking place, even though it does not deal with who had murdered her, and the reason or reasons for her murder.”
In May last year, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Dulcie September exhibition at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Joburg, where he acknowledged the foundation’s contributions to have the investigation into her unexplained assassination reopened.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za