Ryan Swano
This August, in the spirit of Women’s Month and to mark what would have been her 90th birthday, a powerful tribute is being paid to anti-apartheid icon Dulcie September. More than three decades after her assassination in Paris, her legacy still burns bright — and this time, the public is invited to join in a compelling act of remembrance and resistance.
On Monday, 25 August 2025, Surplus Radical Bookshop, the Adwa Movement and Africa Unite (NGO) come together to host a collaborative screening and discussion event in honour of this formidable freedom fighter. The evening will feature Murder in Paris, the critically acclaimed 2021 documentary by filmmaker Enver Samuel that revisits the still-unsolved assassination of Dulcie September and repositions her at the centre of anti-apartheid memory.
Cape Flats Teacher Turned Anti-Apartheid Revolutionary
A teacher turned revolutionary, Dulcie September began her journey of resistance in 1957, disillusioned by the oppressive Bantu Education system. Her activism led her to prison, exile, and ultimately to Paris, where she served as the ANC’s Chief Representative in France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. There, she bravely uncovered illicit arms deals between France and apartheid South Africa — investigations that may have cost her her life. On 29 March 1988, Dulcie was gunned down outside her office in Paris. She was shot five times. Her killers were never brought to justice.
With this event, organisers aim to break the silence and challenge the erasure of her story. “Remembering is part of healing,” says Ras Hein, one of the event collaborators. “In the context of Women’s Month 2025 celebrations, we affirm our dedication to the pursuit of justice for Dulcie.”
Reclaiming Her Legacy: Honouring Dulcie September
The programme at Bertha House, 79 Main Road, Mowbray, Cape Town begins at 18:00 with a screening of Concerning Violence (2014), followed by Murder in Paris at 19:30. A dynamic panel discussion — Reclaiming Her Legacy from the Confines of ‘Forgotten Anti-Apartheid Hero’ — will feature special guests Michael Arendse, Dulcie’s nephew, and veteran activist Marcus Solomon, who once organised alongside her in the radical Yu Chi Chan Club.
This commemorative event is more than just a look back — it’s a call to action. As Dulcie herself said in 1988, just days before her death:
“Words are not enough now, action is needed and the fate of millions of people depends on what you will do or what you will not do.”
We at Bruinou.com as the Official Media Partner of this event are always excited to work alongside Adwa Movement, Africa Unite and the other organisations and institutions they partner with along the ongoing theme of Roots, Culture, Heritage and Decolonisation.
Admission is FREE and all are welcome to stand in solidarity, to remember, and to reignite the flame of justice.
WATCH: The Arms Trade and Dulcie September
Director of Murder in Paris, Enver Samuel and author Evelyn Groenink speak to William Shoki and Sean Jocaobs about the murder of Dulcie September after she uncovered illicit arms deals between France and South Africa’s Apartheid government.
About The Organisers
Surplus Radical Bookshop is an independent bookshop, founded by Andre Marias, a UDF-CAYCO veteran from CT, that specialises in progressive events and revolutionary literature.
HIM Society is a student structure at UWC, it has existed on the campus for over 2 decades, its office is a hub for pan-Africanists, critical thinkers and black radical tradition in general and Rastafari students in particular.
Adwa Movement is a Pan-African cultural heritage community movement established in 2016 as a platform engaged in an ongoing struggle to build a de-colonial society—through advancing the three-fold cause of repatriation-reparation-restitution.
For more information about this and other events you can contact Ras Hein who is a Peer Educator at Africa Unite and the Public Relations & Community Engagement Officer of Adwa
