The Apartheid Killer: 1. Edward’s Ghost

World of Secrets

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 765 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who was Edward and how did he die? His body is exhumed in East London, South Africa. His heartbroken family has waited decades to find out what happened to him.

Edward Soenies wasn’t the only one killed in East London after dark in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. We have spent years investigating. Hosts Ayanda Charlie and Charlie Northcott begin to unravel what happened. They hear from investigative journalist, Isa Jacobsen and Edward’s sister and son, Marlene and Raymond.

Since this episode was recorded, it has been announced that the “apartheid killer” Louis van Schoor died, on 25 July 2024. There will be more about this later in the series and you will hear interviews with him in future episodes.

Please note, this season of World of Secrets includes descriptions about death and violence, including torture, which some listeners may find distressing. It also contains very strong language.

The audio for this episode was updated on 19 August 2024 to remove an error about the South African army under apartheid.

Season 3 of World of Secrets is a collaboration with the BBC World Service investigations unit, Africa Eye. Here’s a link to the BBC Africa Eye film, which we recommend you watch after listening to this podcast: https://youtu.be/QPB42_uLLh0 If you are in the UK, you can watch on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021dvm

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Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Annie Matt Manus and my name is Nick Grimshaw. How long have we known each other babe?
0:05.1	Probably 20 years now and in that time we've always worked in and around music right?
0:10.6	We have. So it kind of makes sense that we do a podcast better.
0:13.4	It sounds like he's been 20 years in the making. It's not a avatar for podcasts, basically,
0:17.6	but it is good. So we put the world to rights with regards to music.
0:21.5	It's all the stuff that you'd want to chat to your mate about over a pint. rights with the music.
0:24.0	It's all the stuff that you'd want to chat to your mate about over a pint.
0:25.0	Sidetracked with us, Annie and Nick.
0:27.0	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.0	Episodes of season 3 of World of Secrets will be released weekly on Mondays wherever you get your BBC podcast.
0:36.6	If you're in the UK you can listen to the latest episode a week early, first on BBC sounds.
0:45.0	Before we start,
0:46.2	this season of World of Secrets
0:47.8	includes descriptions about death and violence,
0:50.6	including torture, which some listeners may find distressing.
0:54.0	We're standing in a field in South Africa, on the top of a sloping hill. In front of us is a tangled
1:05.9	maze of grasses and overgrown thorns. Beyond that, a small city, and in the
1:12.4	distance, the Indian Ocean.
1:15.0	The wind is howling.
1:17.0	You can hardly hear ourselves speak.
1:19.0	The grass is dancing around our feet.
1:22.6	And in the middle of this field is an excavator, a yellow digger,
	...

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