A SERIES of bucket bombs was set off on Saturday, July 22, at 10:00, at the Amphitheatre in front of the Elangeni Hotel on Durban’s beachfront.
The bucket bomb, a nonviolent leaflet device was recreated to celebrate the feature documentary, London Recruits, produced by Barefoot Rascals, a Welsh production company, together with Durban’s Arclight Productions.
London Recruits, which is yet to be released, was shown in a private screening to cast and crew members who were in Durban for the Durban FilmMart (DFM) which takes place from July 21–24 under the theme ‘African Constellations’.
The film sheds light on the 1970 struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa when Oliver Tambo hatched a daring plan to infiltrate young British activists in the country posing as tourists.
Related news: Durban ‘bucket bomb’ to celebrate film this weekend
“In 1970 – an age before social media and instant messaging – these leaflet devices were the only way that Oliver Tambo could get a message of hope through to his people,” explains Colin Charles, the UK producer.
Guests at the event will include former minister of Intelligence Services Ronnie Kasrils, executive producer of the film Robyn Slovo, South African producer Jacintha de Nobrega, producer/director Gordon Main and UK producer Colin Charles.
Speaking at the event on Saturday, Ronnie Kasrils recalled how these Londoners, posing as tourists, would assemble the bucket bombs.
“They would have to put four plastic buckets around town. They had the explosive device in the bottom, linked to a clock, and on top of that, the leaflets. It’s really very nerve-wracking, even just to assemble this in the hotel room. Then I would have sent them to places like Victoria Market,” said Kasrils.
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Leon Beytenbach, a pyrotechnician of 26 years, assembled the modern-day ‘bucket bomb’ used on Saturday.
“The [filmmakers] contacted me when they were shooting the film to come up with a parcel bomb. I had to experiment a bit to get it right,” he said.
“Firstly, I used a bomb pot, which is a steel enclosure. I used about 200g of explosives, so it was relatively small. I set the bomb off from a safe distance remotely,” he explained.
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