CHAPTER ONE: THE FILM ‘CATCH A FIRE’
Hero of ‘Catch a Fire’ tells church about apartheid era
Tags: The Awakened Spirit, Films, ‘Catch A Fire’, Patrick Chamusso, Shawn Slovo
This uplifting film tells the story of Patrick Chamusso, the personal journey and transformation of an “ordinary” man: from a compliant oil refinery worker and family man, then after being arrested, tortured and deported to his birth country of Mozambique became a radicalised African National Congress guerilla fighter code-named ‘Hotstuff’ – a man fighting for the liberation of his people, and his country.
Eventually Patrick was arrested again and convicted as a terrorist; then served his long and harsh sentence on Robben Island in the chilly waters off Cape Town, until his release in 1991. Now Chamusso, aged 57, runs an orphanage with his wife, Connie, where they tend to Aids orphans in the dusty hills near Kruger National Park. From their modest home the close couple care for 14 children. Already they have found foster homes for a further 90 under-privileged (and often malnourished) youngsters in the village, who visit their house daily for food, bible classes and the shiny bicycles donated by the film’s production company. All done with a great generosity of spirit.
But then, Patrick and his beloved wife, Conney have always tried to instill in others the importance of serving others through Christian love. They say that their current long battle against HIV (the Aids virus) is like our people’s long and hard struggle against apartheid.
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Another sub-plot tells a story of how good people can often do bad things and the reader gets inside the soul of a man, who wanted to do good and yet preserve the status quo of the ruling regime – to protect the institutions and history of the country. The plots interweave, the two men living on different sides of the fence – yet both loving their families and their country equally; it’s just that they have a completely different view of their country. The story not only shines a light on South Africa’s past, but tells us something about the present: how one man’s freedom fighter can be another persons’s terrorist. (It just depends upon ones perspective). So, by only looking to history, we always find something, a ray of hope to illuminate the present and the future.
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History tells us that Patrick Chamusso, was the ‘good guy’, who finds himself so backed into a corner, that he finds no other way of expressing and achieving his political aspirations, other than through using force. Therefore it’s vitally important to understand the mind of a person. And that is the mindset we are truly going to have to understand to “win this current ‘war against terror’”. And we are certainly not going to do it by eliminating the ‘perpretrators of the state-sanctioned violence’ and his family.
So my work is also most importantly, a story of redemption: of a man trying to regain his humanity…and one eventually does!
I hope that people can relate to Patrick, Griffith’s, David’s and Rick’s stories, as I believe they reveal the humanity in each of us. I don’t think Chamusso is a hero for taking up arms. I think he’s a hero for laying them down. Their story has a message of forgiveness and hope and parallels the miracle of South Africa today. Now if only other countries could offer the kind of leadership South Africa produced at that precarious time in its blood-soaked history…and learn the lessons from the past, then the whole of Africa and even the entire world would be a far better and more peaceful place for all of us.
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“I have learned to remember the words of my friend, Nelson Mandela, when he said, ‘We can never be free unless we learn to forgive.’” Those are the words of Patrick Chamusso, a former prisoner on South Africa’s Robben Island with Mandela.
He spoke and worshipped at Munger Place United Methodist Church, while visiting Dallas as part of a promotional tour for the movie ‘Catch a Fire’,” which debuts in US cinemas this week. The movie tells the story of his life and his struggle as a freedom fighter in apartheid-era South Africa.
“Nelson Mandela told us to offer forgiveness”, said Chamusso, a member of White River Methodist Church north of Johannesburg, South Africa. He even forgave the person who held him prisoner all those years at Robben Island.
The Rev. Charles L Stovall, pastor of Munger Place Church, invited Chamusso and the movie’s cast and crew to the church, after learning they would be promoting the film in Dallas. Stovall represented the United Methodist Church on the Ecumenical Monitoring Team for South African’s first multi-racial election, an election that made Nelson Mandela South Africa’s first black president.
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Stunned into action!
In the film, Chamusso is portrayed by Derek Luke, who starred in ‘Antwone Fisher’, ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘Glory Road’.
The movie depicts Chamusso’s transformation from an oil refinery worker to a freedom fighter. He was a foreman at the centrally located Secunda oil refinery, which was a symbol of South Africa’s self-sufficiency at a time when the world was instituting economic sanctions and protesting the country’s apartheid system. It was also a symbol of the wealth and riches of South Africa, earned in part from the exploitation of cheap black labor.
In his spare time, Chamusso coached a local boys’ soccer team. He was by no means a political man and would not have dreamed of becoming a member of Nelson Mandela’s freedom party, the African National Congress.
That changed when Chamusso was arrested upon suspicion of sabotage of Secunda in 1980. He was beaten, tortured and mentally abused. When his wife, Precious – played by South African television actress Bonnie Henna – was beaten and arrested, Chamusso was stunned into action. He left his family and joined the African National Congress in Mozambique, where he met Joe Slovo, the head of the congress’s military wing and later became a cabinet member in Mandela’s first post-apartheid government.
In 1981, Chamusso attacked the Secunda refinery in a mission designed by Slovo. After the bombing, he was captured and arrested, held for nine months without trial and brutally tortured.
“I became angry to my God,” Chamusso said, as he recalled his detention. “I said, ‘Where are you?’ I am going to face the judge, and I know I’m going to die.’ But I didn’t. I was supposed to have the death sentence for what I did, but the judge gave me 24 years… It was God.”
Chamusso was imprisoned on Robben Island, where fellow Methodist layman(??), Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. Chamusso said the only way he was able to survive prison was by praying. He served 10 years, received amnesty and was released in 1991, one year after Mandela was released and three years before the country’s first Democratic Election.
‘We must forgive!’
During an October 15 fellowship luncheon at Munger Place, Chamusso told the congregation he was glad the film was done while he was still alive.
“At first, I thought it wasn’t a good story, because I didn’t value myself as a human being. The reason was the structure of apartheid in South Africa. It was directed at a black man. I couldn’t open a bank account in South Africa, because I must take a white man with me. I couldn’t buy a car without a white man. If there was a road block, they would pull me out of the car, search me and beat me in front of my children. But we said, ‘We forgive you people’. Through forgiveness, you let go of the anger and put it down. You forget it!”
Chamusso said he gets upset when people compare what he did in South Africa to current acts of terrorism.
“I think anyone who compares this to terrorism doesn’t understand. There is no comparison. We were trying to remove apartheid. Our policy was, ‘No one must die’. We wanted to destroy apartheid, not kill.
The people in South Africa are going to be surprised when they see this movie. I was at the men’s breakfast at the Methodist Church; there were whites there, who wanted to know what was happening during apartheid. When people tell them about the people who have disappeared and were tortured, some say, ‘Oh, this is exaggerated.’ But that’s why we want to tell them, because they don’t know the truth.
We must tell the truth, but we must also forgive.”
“And you shall know the truth…
and the truth shall set you free.”
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Today Chamusso, his wife, Conney and their three children live in White River, a valley region north of Johannesburg. They have at least 80 orphans, whom they have adopted and care for through their ministry called ‘Two Sisters’.
“I wake up every morning and say, ‘Lord, thank you. For my life. Thank you, Lord for me still being alive.’”
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Also attending the Munger Place United Methodist Church service was ‘Catch a Fire’ screenwriter Shawn Slovo, daughter of the late Joe Slovo, explaining why she wrote the film.
“I thought it was a good time to tell the story, because of the miracle of South Africa.”
“The movie about reconciliation is timely; because it has been a period of time that it seems like all hell has broken loose in the world”, Stovall said. “If you just browse the paper, you can see that violence has escalated around the globe. It all comes down to broken relationships. So as we make peace with God, it is possible for us to have peace.”
31 Oct 2006 Source: United Methodist News Service
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“While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. A triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness; a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness; a triumph of the New South Africa over the old.”
Ahmed Kathrada (who was imprisoned for 26 years. Prisoner No: 468/64)
31 Oct 2006 – Source: United Methodist News Service
Hero of ‘Catch a Fire’ tells church about apartheid era.
“I have learned to remember the words of my friend, Nelson Mandela, when he said, ‘We can never be free, unless we learn to forgive.’” Those are the words of Patrick Chamusso, a former prisoner on South Africa’s Robben Island with Mandela.
“Nelson Mandela told us to offer forgiveness. He even forgave the person who held him prisoner all those years at Robben Island.”
The movie depicts Chamusso’s transformation from an oil refinery worker to a freedom fighter. He was a foreman at the centrally located Secunda oil refinery, which was a symbol of South Africa’s self-sufficiency at a time when the world was instituting economic sanctions and protesting the country’s apartheid system. It was also a symbol of the wealth and riches of South Africa, earned in part from the exploitation of cheap black labor.
In his spare time, Chamusso coached a local boys’ soccer team. He was by no means a political man and would not have dreamed of becoming a member of Nelson Mandela’s freedom party, the African National Congress. That changed when Chamusso was arrested upon suspicion of sabotage of Secunda in 1980. He was beaten, tortured and mentally abused. When his wife, Precious was beaten and arrested, Chamusso was stunned into action. He left his family and joined the African National Congress in Mozambique, where he met Joe Slovo, the head of the congress’ military wing and later a cabinet member in Mandela’s first post-apartheid government.
In 1981, Chamusso attacked the Secunda refinery in a mission designed by Slovo. After the bombing, he was captured and arrested, held for nine months without trial and brutally tortured.
“I became angry to my God”, Chamusso said, as he recalled his detention. “I said, ‘Where are you?’ I am going to face the judge, and I know I’m going to die.’ But I didn’t. I was supposed to have the death sentence for what I did, but the judge gave me 24 years… It was God.”
Chamusso was imprisoned on Robben Island along with Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. Chamusso said the only way he was able to survive prison was by praying. He served 10 years, received amnesty and was released in 1991.
“We must forgive!”
“At first, I thought it wasn’t a good story; because I didn’t value myself as a human being,” Chamusso said. “The reason was the structure of apartheid in South Africa. It was directed at a black man. I couldn’t open a bank account in South Africa; because I must take a white man with me. I couldn’t buy a car without a white man. If there was a road block, they would pull me out of the car, search me and beat me in front of my children. But we said, ‘We forgive you people’. Through forgiveness, you let go of the anger and put it down. You forget it!”
Chamusso said he gets upset when people compare what he did in South Africa to current acts of terrorism.
“I think anyone who compares this to terrorism doesn’t understand. There is no comparison. We were trying to remove apartheid. Our policy was, ‘No one must die.’ We wanted to destroy apartheid, not kill people.”
“We must tell the truth, but we must also forgive”, he said.
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Today Chamusso, his wife, Conney and their three children live in White River, a valley region north of Johannesburg. They have at least 80 orphans whom they have adopted and care for through their ministry called ‘Two Sisters’.
“I wake up every morning and say: ‘Lord, thank you. For my life’, thank you Lord for me still being alive’.”
‘Catch a Fire’ screenwriter Shawn Slovo, daughter of the late Joe Slovo, explaining why she wrote the film:
“I thought it was a good time to tell the story, because of the miracle of South Africa.”
“The movie about reconciliation is timely; because it has been a period of time that it seems like all hell has broken loose in the world. If you just browse the paper, you can see that violence has escalated around the globe. It all comes down to broken relationships. So as we make peace with God, it is possible for each one of us to make peace.”
31 Oct 2006 – Source: United Methodist News Service
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The movie ‘Catch a Fire’ is set to turn this unassuming, unknown man into an international inspiration. “I’m an ordinary man”, he says. “I only did what was right in fighting for South Africa’s freedom. Now I am living where I want, here in this township.”
Chamusso is a hero twice over. First he fought to end South Africa’s apartheid regime and despite enduring torture and 10 years in jail, he embraces the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, that is the hallmark of the new South Africa. His extraordinary life story encompasses much of the country’s compelling history.
In 1981 Nelson Mandela was enduring his 17th year of imprisonment on the fortress of Robben Island, when the most audacious and spectacular sabotage attack against the apartheid regime was carried out with a bombing of South Africa’s Secunda power plant.
After achieving considerable success in apartheid South Africa as a black manager at the Secunda power plant, Chamusso was wrongly suspected of sabotage, tortured by police and jailed for six months. Outraged by the abuse, the previously apolitical Chamusso joined the armed wing of the ANC and devised a plan to destroy the plant.
Captured and sentenced to life imprisonment, Chamusso was sent to Robben Island where he spent 10 long years, until his release in 1991. Now, when he could be resting on his freedom-fighter laurels, Chamusso (56) and his second wife, Conney, have opened their home to orphans, 90 at the last count. And the Chamussos have been taking in children at their home, named ‘Two Sisters Care Centre’ for some years now.
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Chamusso says: “It was painful to visit the set, especially the one where I was tortured. It was so realistic, it was like I was reliving it. In prison I hated the whites; but Mandela, Sisulu and others taught us to forgive. And I can see it is much better than revenge. Anger can kill you. Hate could go on and on and on, but someone must break the cycle, and I am happy to break the cycle. Working together, blacks and whites, makes South Africa great.”
Extracted from a Google search on Patrick Chamusso from an online article in the excellent Weekly Mail and Guardian newspaper from October 2006.
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited
And each ONE of us in our daily “little, ordinary” lives can shine a light that helps to overcome the darkness in the world.
