Dulcie September's legacy of resistance against apartheid

Contemporary quest to uncover the decision-makers behind the hired gun

- RAS HEIN SCHEEPERS

THIS Women’s Month brings renewed focus on the question: who killed Dulcie, a moment to rehash the Justice for Dulcie campaign in solidarity with her family and the people of South Africa.

Dulcie would have turned 90 this month, invoking special tribute and solemn homage.

Dulcie Evonne September was born on August 20, 1935, in Maitland. She attended Athlone High, passed her Standard 8 exams at the end of 1952 and completed her Teacher’s diploma at the Wesley Training School in Salt River, Cape Town, in 1955.

In a historical moment on March 29, 1988 Dulcie September was assassinated in Paris - five shots to the head with a silenced .22 caliber gun as she was unlocking her fourth-floor office door - as the ANC’s chief representative in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. She was 52 when she was killed.

In 1957 she became a member of the Cape Peninsula Students Union (CPSU), an affiliate of the Unity Movement (UM), whereby she politically and intellectually evolved into radical circles of African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA). She was recruited by Elizebeth Van der Heyden to be the postbox for the Yu Chi Chan Club (YCCC) which was banned in 1962 and thereafter she was a leading member of the National Liberation Front (NLF) founded in 1963.