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For the first time ever, a street name in the city of Paris will proclaim the name of a South African. The Dulcie September Square was today (ten years after her death) officially inaugurated by Ambassador Barbara Masekela, South Africa's Ambassador to Paris, Mr Charles Josselin, France's Minister of Co-operation, and Mr Tony Dreyfus, Mayor of the city district of Paris in which the square is situated.

The plaque, in the universally recognised blue and green rectangular format of Paris' streetnames, reads (in French): "Dulcie September Square : Representative of the African National Congress : Assassinated in Paris on 29 March 1988"

Dulcie September joined the ANC office in Paris in 1984 and became its Chief Representative some years later. On 29 March 1988 she was assassinated outside the ANC's Paris office.

In her tribute to Dulcie September, Ambassador Masekela assailed the "faceless, cowardly assassins ... murderers (who) sought to destroy the universal vision of freedom, equality and justice that she stood for with courage and dignity." She called the naming of the square "a celebration of the change in South Africa ... (and) a challenge to lovers of freedom the world over, to be uncompromising and brave, to stand even in the face of death against any form of inequality that can threaten our universal survival."

Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the South African Embassy in Paris, 31 March 1998
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