A Q&A with South African revolutionary Patrick Chamusso
By Dwight Brown
For the NNPA
In the 1980s South Africa, Patrick Chamusso, a freedom fighter for the African National Congress, waged war against apartheid. Today he’s hailed as a hero among heroes like Nelson Mandela and Stephen Bantu Biko.
His evolution from apolitical blue-collar worker, to courageous activist, to healer is the subject of the political-thriller Catch A Fire. Chamusso reflected on his past and looked to the future with NNPA film critic Dwight Brown.
Q: In 1977 your car and a coveted camera were taken from you by the police, why didn’t this transgression make you want to fight Apartheid?
A: I went to a wedding for my girlfriend’s family. On the way back, my camera was confiscated and I was arrested. They said, “Why do you have this camera? It belongs to the ANC (African National Congress).” I was detained for six months on no charges.
Q: You were incarcerated for six months, but you still weren’t motivated to join the ANC?
A: I wanted to go back to my life. But every time I was on the road I had no peace. I was always questioned: “Whose car is this? Where are you going?” But you couldn’t just join the ANC. People were scared. People wouldn’t talk about it. I kind of knew where it was, but I didn’t care about politics, I was just taking care of my children.
Q: Rosa Parks, an American civil rights icon, decided one day that she wouldn’t sit on the back of the bus anymore. It was a defining moment. When was your defining moment?
A: After the MK (the ANC military wing) bombed Secunda (South Africa’s largest oil refinery) I went in (the refinery) and came right out. They (the police) said, “You went in with them, you came out with them. Where are they?” They thought I did it. I was beaten and tortured. (Finally) I said no. I put everything down. I went to the train. I went to join the ANC. It was on a Saturday, June 1980.
Q: As part of the ANC, you were stationed and trained in Mozambique. Then you return to South Africa, prepared to bomb Secunda. One bomb to warn everyone to leave. The other to do devastation.
A: The mission was this, the ANC policy was this, “No one must die.” That’s why I set the first bomb.
Q: The first bomb detonated, the second didn’t.
A: Yeah, it didn’t go off.
Q: What do you think would have happened if the second bomb had gone off?
A: It would have destroyed the whole plant. They would have had to rebuild it from scratch. This was the heart … there were 10 years of petrol around it.
Q: If the second bomb had gone off, would you still have been caught or would history have been changed?
A: I would have been caught. They knew it was me. They closed all the borders. They closed all the ways. Roadblocks everywhere. They issued a reward for me over the radio, but I didn’t want to be arrested like that. I wanted to be arrested either on the run or fighting.
Q: Forgiveness is the mantra for the new South Africa. How did you come to that state-of-grace?
A: It was a time when I was in prison. Discussions with other comrades. Political discussions. We would take examples of other countries, like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola. If we get those people (whites) and kill them, what about there children? Someone has to stop the cycle of war. Who is that someone? No one will come from heaven — it is the people who are involved. It’s working. Some of those people feel guilty. They were told lies about me. When they meet me, they say, “But you are not a bad person.”
Q: You have an orphanage named Two Sisters which cares for 80 children, many orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. How can people help you raise money for these kids?
A: I would like papers to publish my website and e-mail addresses. These are not Patrick’s children they are “our” children, the world’s children. If we raise them, educate them, put religion into them they will grow up right. Maybe there is a president or doctor here. We need to give them a chance. We have to help each other.
Website: www.twosisters.org.za. Email: Patrick@twosisters.org.za. Postal Address: P.O. Box 539, White River 1240, South Africa