Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Novo Catengue Camp is Closed
On 16 March 1979, a huge number of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) combatants arrived in Pango Camp, as well as others in Quibaxe Camp, about 200km northeast of Luanda, Angola, following the bombing and closure of the Novo Catengue base camp, on 14 March 1979, approximately 430km south of Luanda, affectionately known as the “University of the South”.
They were taken in military trucks to the port of Benguela, where they found a huge naval vessel waiting for them. The vessel took off into the night and having been drilled during their military training in topography, these MK cadres could tell that they were sailing north. They took the whole night to reach their destination and were taken to a bushy patch of land with a few old, dilapidated, white housing structures and told to do their best to turn the place into a new camp. They had arrived in Quibaxe and some were dispatched to Pango, both camps in Angola’s Cuanza Norte province.
What had happened on the morning of 14 March 1979, was that there was a unit guarding the approaches to the camp, at Novo Catengue. There was also a platoon living outside the camp, which was in possession of anti-tank guns. At about 07:00, Commander Mshengu (aka “Uncle”), the commander of the anti-tank platoon, was among approximately 600 cadres on their way back to the camp for breakfast after spending the night in the bush as part of the on-going safety precautions against an attack
