By David Jenkin

The much anticipated Mandela’s Gun, initially touted for release earlier this year, is set to make its world premiere on Friday, 28 October, at the Joburg Film Festival. On Friday, 21 October, media update was invited to Liliesleaf Farm Museum to watch the film in the museum’s auditorium, in close proximity to the very place where Nelson Mandela is believed to have buried the gun in question.

The history covered is a relatively untold chapter which spans Mandela’s period as a guerrilla fighter, including his odyssey to Algeria, Ethopia, Tanzania and Botswana (with many scenes filmed on location). Scripted re-enactments make up the bulk of the film, treated in a film noir-style black and white. South African television star, Tumisho Masha, plays Mandela quite convincingly. Between scenes, director John Irvin has included interviews with surviving members of the inner-circle from that time.

The gun, a semi-automatic Makarov pistol, is an important symbol. It was given to Mandela as a gift by Emperor of Ethiopian Haile Selassie, himself an icon for African liberation at the time. While the gun was in Mandela’s possession, the Struggle was headed towards a violent confrontation with the South African government which the underground was actively preparing for, stockpiling weapons. Mandela buried the gun on the Liliesleaf Farm property before his arrest, which came soon after, near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal. Within a year, police raided Liliesleaf and arrested 19 members of the underground who were found there. The famous Rivonia Trial followed.

The gun itself was never recovered as, after his release, Mandela was never able recall the precise spot where he had buried it. However, by this time, Mandela was firmly committed to a peaceful transition of power. It was, therefore, appropriate that the weapon remain undiscovered.

Mandela’s Gun is an accurate retelling of events from a period of enormous tension in South Africa’s history. Few may realise how close the country came to a Soviet/US proxy war, which would have surely been disastrous, a point the film makes clear. In the context of this dark chapter, Mandela’s decision to steer away from violence truly shines.

Mandela’s Gun is produced by Jeremy Nathan, Moroba Nkawe and Claire Evans, and written by Athos Kyriakides and Malcolm Purkey.

Mandela’s Gun premieres on Friday, 28 October at The Zone, Rosebank, with a second screening at Maponya Mall in Soweto on Saturday, 29 October.