[18], From there they were flown to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, accompanied by MK commander, Joe Modise. It was not until the following morning that the warders realised the three men were missing. [19], By escaping, Moumbaris had reduced his sentence by five and a half years. In prison they met Denis Goldberg and on Alexandre Moumbaris - not on Leonard Fontaine. Escape from Pretoria. Escape From Pretoria, the political thriller Annan co-wrote and directed, is based on a 1987 memoir by Tim Jenkin, in which Jenkin relates his 1979 escape from Pretoria Central Prison,. In December 1979, Jenkin, Lee, and fellow inmate Alex Moumbaris successfully escaped from the prison with Jenkin unlocking nine of its doors while Goldberg distracted the warden. This time they came up with a plan to leave dummies in their beds, sneak downstairs, hide in a cupboard and wait for the warder to go upstairs. In order to successfully escape from the prison in December 1979, Jenkin unlocked nine doors while Goldberg diverted the warden. [21], Along with Lee, Jenkin was charged with "producing and distributing 18 different pamphlets on behalf of banned organisations" including the South African Communist Party, the ANC and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, from 1975 to 1978, and urging people to join the liberation movement. On 11 December 1979 the three escapees managed to execute their master plan, against all odds, and found themselves outside the prison, in civilian clothes. I made that within a week or two of being there, it wasnt that difficult.. It was dangerous, they did have regular inspections. [3], On 23 October 1973, the matter of possible theft of documents from the Clapham Common home of Moumbaris and his wife was raised in the UK parliament by Labour party MP Alex Lyon. Select Your Cookie Preferences. As he says, for me its just like going to the movies. Escape from Pretoria makes an ideal everyman out of Daniel Radcliffe The actor plays Tim Jenkin, a real-life political prisoner during apartheid-era South Africa, who made a daring escape in 1979 At night there were dogs in the yard.. The video features excerpts from interviews with Moumbaris, Jenkin, Lee and fellow inmate Denis Goldberg filmed in 2012, in between re-enacted scenes of the prison escape. Speaking to Metro.co.uk about learning the news Radcliffe would be portraying him, Jenkin (who was sentenced to 12 years in prison) said the A-list casting came as a surprise. Jenkin worked as a researcher for the Institute for Social Development at the University of the Western Cape, a university for South Africans of mixed racial ancestry, or Coloureds. Why? [31][32] In 2013, the story of the prison escape was dramatised in the 7th episode of the 2nd season of Breakout, a television series made by National Geographic TV channel dramatising real-life prison escapes. They were both found guilty on one charge, with Jenkin receiving a 12-year sentence and Lee eight. The inmate took a piece of paper, stuffed it into the lock using a knife and measured the depth. The arrests at Liliesleaf and convictions which followed at the Rivonia Trial in 1963-4 were followed by widespread roundups of activists and leaders, including Bram Fischer and Wilton Mkwayi. SLOUCHED on his bed in the small, dingy cell of the notorious jail where he was destined to spend the next 12 years, Tim Jenkin had a flash of inspiration. Alexandre Moumbaris is a political activist and former political prisoner. why is alex moumbaris not in escape from pretoria. In 2015 he went on a national tour in Australia organised by Karel Boele speaking about his escape and community currencies. Banished to the vast prison complex of Pretoria, the countrys administrative capital, Jenkin and Lee are protectively counseled by veteran liberal political prisoner Denis Goldberg (British veteran Ian Hart, giving the character a geezer-y air), who advises them to keep their heads down and to serve their time with dignity as prisoners of conscience. The youngsters, countering that they are instead prisoners of war, immediately set about an escape plan regardless. On arrival at Pretoria, a jail for white political prisoners, both men were so focused on escaping they even asked relatives to smuggle in money for taxi fares once they broke out. At first the wooden key didnt turn the inner cell door lock. [26], When living in Camden, still with the ANC, Jenkin devised a system for encrypted communication for the ANC to communicate with their agents. [7] A new edition was published in Johannesburg and London as Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison in 2003. The only languages allowed to be spoken during visits were the two "official" languages, English and Afrikaans, but as Boris only spoke French and was deemed too young to be a security risk, allowed them to converse in French. The third partner in the escape, Egyptian-born activist Alex Moumbaris, has been fictionalized as enigmatic Frenchman Leonard (Mark Leonard Winter), who has no discernible history or motivation at all, while two black allies in the plan are marginal presences at best. The real-life Goldberg was much more supportively involved in the prison-break strategy; if the script does him something of a disservice for the purposes of greater narrative friction, thats not the fastest and loosest it plays with facts. Surely his amazing story has had the big Hollywood sparkle, though? Sneaking out of their cells at night, they soon managed to get through door four. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. You hardly have to measure., He continued: The actual shape, we got by looking at their [guards] keys, as we had the overall height already, it was just a question of guessing how deep the cuts were and our guess was correct and the very first key was correct. Years later, while based in Camden, North London, he would set up a rudimentary computer that enabled coded messages to be sent from the ANC to their agents and even to Mandela in prison. He would then lean out of the tiny opening next to the door of his cell, and get the key inside the lock with a broomstick and a mirror. On the outside of the first door was another door made of solid metal, but the lock was on the other side and there was no way of reaching it from inside the cell. In July, four ANC operatives including author Jeremy Cronin were arrested doing similar work in Cape Town and were given prison sentences. He returned to France after his escape. Escape from Pretoria. He reconnoitred the East Coast from Kosi Bay to East London in the course of his trips. He was accused of having published, in the Press Newsletter (BIP), the article "Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) 2010", summing up the activities and successes of the BDS campaign during 2010. AM. It's not intended as a compliment: "The most deluded of them all," the warden adds, lest it be taken as such. Success came after many long nights of painstaking effort and risk. "Just in case, we had brought a chisel. He was also influenced by the Vietnam War and the Greek coup of the colonels in 1967. Door three fortunately worked with the same key as the inner cell door. Dirigida por Francis Annan y con Daniel Radcliffe en el papel principal, est basada en el libro que el mismo Jenkin escribi relatando la horrible experiencia vivida poco antes de los 80, cuando fue apresado. [23], As the plan evolved it became clear that for the escape to be successful it would have to be restricted to three people, who would have to hide in a small closet at one point. It was dangerous, they did have regular inspections. [9] When an escape committee of three prisoners was set up, Moumbaris (and not Jenkin or Lee) was selected as he was "the most vociferous" and a good negotiator. But, he says, they were determined to break free. He left for the UK in 1970, where, working in a fibreglass factory under poor working conditions and little pay, found the system unjust and developed an interest in sociology. At night there were dogs in the yard, Stephen told The Mirror. I felt so elated.". [2] In 1995, Jenkin wrote a 6-part article series called Talking to Vula: The Story of the Secret Underground Communications Network of Operation Vula. [4], Moumbaris and Marie-Jos were caught while trying to enter South Africa from Botswana in 1972, after a previously-arrested comrade informed on them. The last 30-odd years have seen such a wealth of diverse, resonant personal histories emerge from the ashes of apartheid not least that of the actual, not-white Mandela that " Escape from. Lying on his bunk one night, he gazed at the lock in front of him and had a flash of inspiration. Each night after lights went out, the trio sneaked out of their cells - once Tim had used the first key to unlock them all - to try and get through an extra door. While cleaning their corridor outside, Tim got his second key to fit but the bolt became stuck. The prison, constructed from stone and steel, had gone down in prisoner folklore as being a fortress from which no one could ever hope to escape. peoplepill id: alex-moumbaris. [4] He had not grown up in a political family, but when in Britain associated with Communists there and he was inspired by the communist resistance to the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. While their revolutionary deeds helped to change the course of history, their prison escape was that which garnered them real fame. As Stephen explained in a previous interview with The Daily Mail, he came up with the solution to end all of their woes during a lonely, quiet night in his prison cell. [19], In 2014 a documentary film called The Vula Connection, about Jenkin and his part in the creation of an ingenious secret communication system that enabled Vula operatives to penetrate South Africa's borders in secret, ultimately smuggling messages to the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, was made by Marion Edmunds. It couldnt be reached by his cell, so he had to gradually fit that second key to size doing stints cleaning the corridor during prisoners' chore times. "I wanted to run but we just kept walking to the railway station, where we used our money to get in a taxi.. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. The sense of freedom was amazing. Once the key was ready to go, they had to work out how to get the door open without the guards noticing. Alex Moumbaris was born in Egypt to French parents and later became a naturalised Australian. Here, Jenkin met his future wife Robin. We started just before the Soweto uprising in 1976 and carried on for three years. As clunkily deployed in the [] "You are the white Mandela," says a ham-faced warden, all but spitting in the face of anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin upon his arrival at Pretoria Local Prison in 1978. el de su arresto y el de su escape. [15], At 3am the morning of 2 March 1978, Jenkin and Lee were both arrested, after being seen moving their printing equipment into their own dwelling. [7], Jenkin and Lee appeared at a press conference in Lusaka with Oliver Tambo on 2 January 1980 to tell their stories,[25] before moving to London, where Jenkin worked as a research officer for the International Defence and Aid Fund. While the first step toward freedom might have been exhilarating, it was far from their most momentous achievement. He also . For other inquiries, Contact Us. Alexandre Moumbaris is a political activist and former political prisoner.He was born in Egypt to Greek parents, grew up in Australia, lived and worked in the UK, was imprisoned in South Africa and now lives in France.He is known for his political activism against the apartheid rgime in South Africa in the 1970s, and his subsequent incarceration in, and 1979 escape from, Pretoria Local . He had big plans to shoot Escape from Pretoria in South Africa a couple of years ago, but the money fell through. "We were right underneath an armed guard but he didnt see us. Nathan Page. [11] In March 1976 Lee went to Johannesburg to look for work, and the ANC coincidentally sent them both on their first mission, to disperse leaflets urging support for the ANC via a leaflet bomb (using a new design developed by Jenkin) in Johannesburg, close to the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March. Eventually, the day comes when Jenkin, Lee, and Fontaine try their escape, and by some miracle, it works. They were so convinced that they'd soon find a way out that they had money smuggled in to use for taxi fares once they got out. While awaiting clearance for membership, Jenkin worked as a social worker at a reform school in Swindon. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. There was an effort to rebuild the armed wing known as Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and a plan was hatched by Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo and/or Moses Mabhida, with the help of the South African Communist Party[2] to land 25 combatants plus arms via a boat previously purchased by the ANC, the Adventurer (or Avventura[4]), on the Transkei coast via the Indian Ocean from Somalia. Their fellow inmates told them theyd never make it. Alex Moumbaris was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on the 20 June 1973, which he started serving in the Pretoria Local Prison. Alexandre Moumbaris is a political activist and former political prisoner. Two years later, Marie-Jos gave birth to a daughter, Zo, who was born on 11 December 1981, the second anniversary of the escape. Alex Moumbaris (section Escape) and 1979 escape from, Pretoria Local Prison (within the Pretoria Central Prison complex) with Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee. Using an ingenious homemade wooden key attached, like a crankshaft, to the end of a broomstick, Tim had just got through his outer cell door. There he met and married a French woman, Marie-Jos. We were contemplating escape even before our conviction. They then photocopied it and swapped it with other students. That last scene is about as accurate as you can make it, Jenkin says of the very real moment the escapees werent able to open the ninth and final door to freedom. "Im glad I played the part I did," he said. He is best known for his 1979 escape from Pretoria Local Prison (part of the Pretoria Central Prison complex), along with Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris. Others were also caught, but they succeeded in infiltrating a number of trained militants. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. [2] Goldberg and the others decided to withdraw from the escape, with Goldberg continuing to be involved in the preparations. Unwilling to take any more risks, they had to leave this final barrier untested until the night of the actual escape. Director Francis Annan and his co-writer L.H . Upon legal advice, both pleaded guilty to all charges. Luckily, the warder blamed one of his colleagues. "I just took the chance and carried the parts of the key and tools we needed, a triangular file and some glue in a Thermos flask," he said. The jaw-dropping story of how two men broke out of the infamous maximum-security Pretoria Prison - and eventually on to the UK - has been given the Hollywood treatment in new blockbuster 'Escape From Pretoria', starring Daniel Radcliffe as Tim. Jenkins was not going to help the cause by sitting in prison, and he set about planning an escape. Despite the feature film makeover, there is no embellishment of Jenkins recollection in the script, based on his 2003 bookInside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison. 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