Over 10 years since Reeva Steenkamp was fatally shot by Oscar Pistorius, he is set to be released from prison this week on parole.
Naturally, this has ignited people’s interest in Oscar Pistorius. We can see from Google data that when people search for Oscar Pistorius, they are searching for ‘oscar pistorious free’, ‘oscar Pistorius story’ and ‘oscar pistorious net worth.’
But amongst all this interest, there’s one name that’s being constantly forgotten – Reeva Steenkamp. This was sadly highlighted in the 2020 BBC documentary 'The Trials of Oscar Pistorius', which assessed the ‘fall’ of the ‘international hero.’ There was a huge outcry over the documentary and the way it was marketed, particularly around the trailer which did not mention Reeva Steenkamp's name. The BBC removed the trailer after the backlash, with people using the phrase ‘Her Name Was Reeva Steenkamp.’
Admittedly, it is understandable that there would be some interest in the case of one of the world’s biggest sporting stars killing his also famous girlfriend – Reeva was a model and law graduate, famous in her own right in South Africa. Her story was eventually aired in a moving Channel 4 documentary 'My Name Is Reeva' last year, but it came a little too late - a whole ten years after the most horrendous thing imaginable happened to her and her family.
When Oscar Pistorius leaves prison, we can expect to see lots of headlines. Already, publications are speculating 'What's next for Oscar Pistorius' and 'will Oscar Pistorius make an athletics come back?' Others have run pieces tracking his journey from 'hero' to 'murderer.' But where are the articles remembering Reeva, the one person who, tragically, can never come back? Unlike Oscar’s Google search results, when people search Reeva Steenkamp, they're looking for ‘oscar pistorious wife’ and ‘reeva steenkamp injuries.’
When it comes to violence against women and murder, we repeatedly cannot let go of the legacies men have built. Their achievements always come before the brutal acts they are accused of in the headlines and stories that surround us. It happens time and time again. Whether it's 'your favourite comedian' Russell Brand also being accused of sexual assault' or headlines about ‘wonderful fathers’ or ‘upstanding members of the local parish council’ who ‘no-one suspected’ could be committing brutal acts of abuse and later murder.
Or when ‘great stars’ die and we revert to gross infighting on social media about whether the fact they abused a woman is part of their obituary – a fair thing to mention in the reporting of their lives.
Despite what it says about sexism and patriarchy in our society (and that women’s legacies are easily destroyed by much smaller actions or, in fact, the actions of her partner or children), what does this say to victims of ongoing abuse? It says to women scared to speak out that they should be scared. Because they’ll always be footnotes. And that even when they think they’re ready to tell their side of the story, they’ll always be overshadowed and called into doubt.
As Oscar Pistorius leaves prison this week, try and put yourself in the shoes of Reeva Steenkamp’s family. While Pistorius walks free, it should be clear to us, really, who continues to be left facing daily trials.
How did Reeva Steenkamp die?
Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius, at around 3am in the bathroom of his home in Pretoria, South Africa. She was shot four times through the closed door, before Pistorius bashed down the door with a cricket bat and called the police.
Pistorius claims he woke up and believed she was a burglar, so shot at the bathroom door in self-defence. In 2014, Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison. However, that was overturned and replaced with a murder conviction after appeals by prosecutors.
When did Reeva Steenkamp die?
Reeva Steenkamp died on 14 February 2013. The couple had spent Valentine’s Day at Pistorius’ flat.
How old was Reeva Steenkamp when she died?
Reeva was just 29 the night she died. In August 2023, Reeva’s parents marked what would have been her 40th birthday with a cake featuring a picture of her face.
What have Reeva Steenkamp’s parents said about her death?
At first, Reeva’s parents, Barry and June Steenkamp, said they initially forgave Pistorius, but maintained he had not told the full story about what happened on the night she died.
'I've already forgiven a long time ago,' June Steenkamp told Good Morning Britain in 2014. ‘The hatred a lot of people feel towards him as a person, you can't carry that along with you...it will just make you ill.’ She said they were ‘satisfied by the sentence’ but ‘there's more to the whole story than anybody knows. Only Oscar knows.’
However, they have more recently changed their minds and said on the 10th anniversary of Reeva’s death that they still believed Pistorius intentionally shot her and wanted him to stay in jail for the rest of his life.
'I told Oscar directly that he had shot my daughter deliberately and he denied it,' Barry Steenkamp told The Daily Mail. ‘He stuck to his story that he thought it was an intruder.’ He continued ‘After all these years we are still waiting for him to admit he did it in anger. That is all we wanted. If he told me the truth, he would have been a free man by now and I would have let the law take its course over his parole,’ adding ‘But I was wasting my time. He is a murderer. He should remain in jail.’