Johannesburg – It was billed as a fitting tribute
to "an intelligent, beautiful and amazing woman" but the airing of a
Caribbean reality TV show featuring Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend of
Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius two days after she was shot dead has upset some
South Africans.
In
particular, women's rights activists criticised an edited clip at the start of
Saturday night's 'Tropika Island of Treasure' in which law graduate and model
Steenkamp talks about her "exit".
"I
think that the way you go out, not just your journey in life, but the way that
you go out and you make your exit is so important," she says, leaning
against a palm tree in a pre-recorded interview on the show's set in Jamaica.
At the
end of the tribute, presumably recorded when she was voted off the show, she
blows kisses to the camera and says: "I'm going to miss you all so much.
"I
love you very, very much."
Pistorius
was charged on Friday with murdering Steenkamp in the early hours of Thursday,
although his family have denied the charge.
Initial
reports said Pistorius may have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder.
Rachel
Jewkes, a gender and health researcher at the South African Medical Research
Council (MRC), said the clips were particularly insensitive in a country where
a woman is estimated to be killed by her partner every eight hours.
"There
was a big question about whether it should have been shown at all, or whether
they were trying to get audience ratings off the fact she had died,"
Jewkes said.
"These
sort of quotes don't make you feel any better about the suggestion they are
exploiting her death."
Shockwaves
Show
producer Samantha Moon said the decision to air the programme on Saturday as
scheduled was difficult but ultimately she wanted to share the "special
memories" of Steenkamp.
"Reeva
was an intelligent, beautiful and amazing woman and we feel it would be an
injustice to keep that unknown from those who did not know her
personally," Moon said.
Steenkamp,
who was shot in the head, hand, chest and hip, according to domestic media
reports, will be buried on Tuesday.
Many
South Africans thought the decision not to delay the show until after the
funeral was wrong.
"It
was very insensitive to put it on air before she was even buried," said
30-year-old insurance consultant Montle Ndlovu.
"It's
such a sad story. She was young and pretty and had her whole life in front of
her."
The
downfall of Pistorius, the first double amputee to run in the Olympics, has
sent shockwaves through South Africa, where many saw him as a rare example of a
hero who transcended the racial divide that lingers in the ‘Rainbow Nation.’
The ANC’s
Women's League called for the courts to deny bail to Pistorius to show the
government was serious about stopping gender-based violence.
"Pistorius
must be treated like any other person accused of such crimes and no special
circumstances should be considered based on his celebrity status," the League
said.
Pistorius
is being held in a Pretoria police station until his bail hearing resumes on
Tuesday.
