REEVA STEENKAMP
The mother of the model killed by Oscar Pistorius talks to WHO about her legacy.
Two weeks before she died, Reeva Steenkamp called her mother, June, with an idea for her next life mission. The South African lawyer and model had heard about the gang rape and brutal murder of a teenage girl from Bredasdorp, 200km south-east of Cape Town on Feb. 2, 2013, and was so troubled she felt compelled to act. “She phoned me saying she wanted to do something about all this abuse,” June tells WHO. Within days, Reeva had a plan: to educate young people about abusive relationships and violence against women. “The morning she died she was due to talk at a high school,” says June. “She had a whole speech.”
Five years after Reeva’s death in one of the decade’s most shocking and controversial murder cases, her mother is carrying on that crusade. In the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013, Reeva’s boyfriend, the once-celebrated Paralympian and Olympian Oscar Pistorius, then 26, shot dead the 30-yearold through a locked bathroom door at the athlete’s luxury home in Pretoria. Two years later, inspired by her daughter’s ambition, June created the Reeva Steenkamp Foundation (RSF), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to educate children about violence, bullying and abuse. “I thought straight away of a foundation to protect women, for awareness for them to realise what they were involved in,” says June, 71. “Violence against women is escalating daily now. Reeva was already working against abuse, I’m taking the baton and going forward with it.”
It’s been a positive step in the life of a stillgrieving mother. Speaking to WHO from her home in Port Elizabeth, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, where she lives with husband Barry, a former horse trainer, June reveals that the passage of time has not diminished her heartache. “One would imagine that after five years it would be easier, but it’s actually not,” says June, who at the time of Reeva’s death was overseeing the building of a pub in Port Elizabeth with Barry. “Reeva was such an inspiring person and devoted to Barry and me. We miss her. She loved us and doted on us. She was a perfect child. We were always proud of her. It doesn’t change with time. I think I will go to my death with this with me. Some days it’s actually more difficult.”
In the early hours of Valentine’s Day, 2013, June was busy preparing for the day when a detective phoned to tell her Reeva had been killed in what Pistorius described as a “devastating accident.” The tragedy gripped the world: South Africa’s
“Some days it’s actually more difficult” —June Steenkamp
national hero, a double amputee who had overcome incredible odds to become the first amputee to compete at an Olympic Games, had shot dead his girlfriend, a law graduate whose beauty landed her modelling jobs, magazine covers and an upcoming role in the popular South African reality-tv show Tropika Island of Treasure. He claimed he believed an intruder had entered his home, in a gated estate, when he opened fire through the bathroom door. Losing Reeva is “frozen in my mind,” says June. “It’s in my thoughts every day … the pain of losing her. It will always be there for me. In certain ways her death destroyed part of our lives. It’s the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. She was so beautiful and such a wonderful person.”
In the 2014 trial, a judge found Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) and sentenced him to a maximum of five years’ prison before the conviction was upgraded to murder on appeal in 2015. Pistorius was then sentenced to six years in prison, but on appeal that was upgraded to a 15-year term. This year, Pistorius plans to appeal—see box. (June declined to comment on Pistorius and the trial.)
Since losing their daughter, June and Barry visit a beach in Port Elizabeth on her birthday and the anniversary of her death. They float roses on the water and say a prayer with friends. “In Tropika she swam with the dolphins and said it was the best experience of her life, so we put her ashes into the sea where the dolphins come,” says June. “You often see dolphins there jumping out the water but one year they came floating slowly past us and that felt like she knew we were there. That was so emotional. It was incredibly peaceful.”
Forming the foundation was another source of comfort for the mother, a way to ensure Reeva’s legacy of love will live on. “I wanted to do something instead of sitting at home crying,” she says. “You can only cry so much. So I thought, I must do something about this.” To that end, the RSF is raising awareness of the violence and abuse suffered by women and children not only in South Africa but around the world, including in
Australia, where June has delivered talks. “The object is to reach kids when they are very young,” she says. “There is so much bullying at school and there’s the breakdown of the family. I’m going to go to schools and speak to children.”
The foundation also provides advocacy and support and gives out a “Reeva Pack,” which helps women understand whether they are in an abusive relationship. “It contains stories of famous women who have lived through abuse; it can happen to anyone,” says June, who in 2015 visited her daughter’s high school in Port Elizabeth and delivered the speech Reeva planned to give on the day she died. “There are questions to ask yourself like, ‘Am I being controlled? Is he taking away my money? Does he ask where I am going?’ It’s to educate women to stop abuse.” She hopes that education will save lives. “I’m 71 now so I don’t know how much time I have left. Seeing results would give me great pleasure,” she says. “I’m obsessed with the foundation now. ” It’s an obsession guided by the enduring spirit of her daughter. “She loved us and doted on us, so it’s difficult living without her,” says June. “I’m sure she knows what I’m doing. It would make Reeva incredibly proud of me.”
“It’s the worst thing that could ever happen” —June Steenkamp