Pistorius' girlfriend show to air

Feb 16 2013

South Africa's national broadcaster says it will screen a reality TV show featuring the dead model girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, two days after she was shot and killed at the home of the double-amputee athlete.

SABC confirmed it will air the Tropika Island of Treasure programme "which features the late Reeva Steenkamp".

Pistorius has been arrested and charged with the Valentine's Day murder of Steenkamp, who was shot multiple times in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday at Pistorius' house in a gated community in the South African capital, Pretoria.

The show's executive producer, Samantha Moon, said that Steenkamp's family wants the show to go ahead. Moon said that the family "wants it on. This is how they want to remember her".

Reeva's cousin, Sharon Steenkamp, said the family had not been consulted by anyone from the show or SABC, but they were not against it being aired because Reeva "was proud of being in the show".

"Her last words to us personally was that she wants us to watch it," Sharon Steenkamp said.

A Steenkamp family spokesman said relatives still faced a long struggle to come to terms with her killing.

"I can't see the family getting over this shortly," Reeva's uncle, Mike Steenkamp said. "It's going to be a long, long-term reconciliation with a lot of things and issues."

Mike Steenkamp said there would be a memorial service for Reeva in her home town of Port Elizabeth, on South Africa's southern coast.

"Reeva's casket is being brought to PE (Port Elizabeth)," he said.