ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS: 1. Synopsis Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero’s journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit- Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country’s turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of today. 2. About the Production Apartheid ended 15 years ago in South Africa, but there are still heroes’ stories to be told from those times that the world has not yet heard. Patrick Chamusso’s life is one such story. 3. A Brief History of Apartheid (1948-1991) and South Africa (1652-present) While apartheid was only ended in South Africa 15 years ago, the roots of the system date back several centuries. 4. A Brief History of the ANC and the ANC Military Wing (MK) The African National Congress (ANC) was formed by a caucus of tribal, political, and religious groups in 1912, in response to the increasingly oppressive laws of the South African government that were depriving blacks of their rights, land and freedom. 5. A Brief History of Patrick Chamusso Patrick Chamusso was born into a rural Mozambique family in 1950. His father was a migrant laborer who worked over the border in South Africa as a miner, and as such was only allowed home once or twice a year (for Easter and/or Christmas) and was only minimally compensated.

Catch a Fire
A Brief History of the ANC and the ANC Military Wing (MK)

The African National Congress (ANC) was formed by a caucus of tribal, political, and religious groups in 1912, in response to the increasingly oppressive laws of the South African government that were depriving blacks of their rights, land and freedom.

The organization was radicalized in 1949 by its Youth League, headed by Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. In June 1952, they launched the Defiance Campaign, a non-violent campaign of civil disobedience against apartheid. The government (now controlled by the right-wing Afrikaner National Party) responded with mass arrests. As a result, ANC membership swelled.

In 1961, following the Sharpeville massacre and the brutal state of emergency that followed, the ANC abandoned its policy of peaceful resistance for one of armed struggle, founding its military wing (MK) Mkhonto we Sizwe [translation, “Spear of the Nation”]. Mandela was named MK’s commander-in-chief. After an MK campaign of sabotage against government installations, Mandela was arrested in 1962. Along with other ANC leaders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. Within South Africa, the ANC had been, for the moment, defeated.

But the movement was kept alive by exiles and activists who waged an international campaign to politically isolate South Africa, and an underground military campaign within the country’s borders. In 1978 (following a trip to Vietnam), MK’s chief of staff Joe Slovo set up Special Ops, a unit dedicated to armed propaganda. Special Ops engineered dramatic acts of sabotage, with the dual purpose of demoralizing whites and enhancing the ANC’s prestige among blacks. Slovo’s hand-picked elite operatives were based in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Special Ops targeted the county’s government-owned oil refineries; as manufacturers of oil refined from coal, these refineries were allowing the country to survive U.N.-imposed oil sanctions and were symbols of the National Party’s intransigence.

After several attempts, Special Ops member Motso “Obadi” Mokgabudi commanded an operation that succeeded in bombing several oil installations on the night of May 31st, 1980 – Republic Day. No lives were lost, but one of the targets hit was a huge refinery in Secunda, a town in the northeast. The explosions and subsequent fires – and reportage of same – were a major propaganda coup for MK, and marked the most effective act of sabotage in MK’s history. In retaliation, South African security forces staged an illegal, cross-border raid against ANC members living in Matola, a suburb of Maputo. Twelve ANC members were killed, including Obadi.

MK’s campaign continued, with increasing ferocity, within South Africa over the next decade. It was formally disbanded in August 1990, after the ban on the ANC was lifted. Many of the MK rank-and-file now serve in the South African National Defence Force, which encompasses the country’s Army, Navy, Air Force, and Medical Service.

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A Brief History of Patrick Chamusso
Patrick Chamusso was born into a rural Mozambique family in 1950. His father was a migrant laborer who worked over the border in South Africa as a miner, and as such was only allowed home once or twice a year (for Easter and/or Christmas) and was only minimally compensated.