Cape Town - The family of Struggle icon Dulcie September may be one step closer to justice, as they say they recently met with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) to look into her death.
The development comes after the Tribunal judiciare de Paris (Court of Paris) last week heard final arguments in a civil case to determine whether the French state should have provided her with protection, more than 34 years after September’s assassination.
The case between the family and the French state hinged on the fact that September before her assassination had twice approached French authorities for protection, informing the local police that her life was in danger, but they allegedly did nothing about it.
September was shot in the head from behind five times with a 22-calibre silenced rifle outside her Paris office during her time as chief representative for the ANC in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The family expects an outcome by December 14.
They have since called on both the French and South African governments to work together to solve September’s murder, as efforts to find those behind the killing have led nowhere.
The family said they had met with the Hawks on Thursday.
“We are grateful and welcome the investigation by the Hawks into the assassination of our family member, Dulcie September. Over the years since her murder in Paris on March 29, 1988, efforts to find the culprits responsible for Dulcie's assassination have come to nought. As the family, we will assist in whatever we can to help bring the perpetrators to book,” September’s nephew Michael Arendse said.
“We call on both the South African and French governments to work together to solve this murder.”
The Hawks did not respond to several requests for comment by deadline.
Meanwhile the wheels of justice have also started turning for another anti-apartheid icon who lost his life fighting for freedom, Anton Fransch, as the National Prosecuting Authority says it met with law enforcement agencies on Monday to discuss his death. Fransch died 33 years ago during a shootout with the apartheid security police in Athlone.
Armed with a pistol and an AK-47, Fransch, only aged 20 at the time, managed to hold off about 40 heavily armed apartheid security police for about seven hours before he died from what is believed to be a grenade.
The inquest into the death of Imam Abdullah Haron was also heard recently. The inquest will resume early next year when closing arguments will be heard in the Western Cape High Court.
Cape Times