South Africa at the end of the 1970s was known for its apartheid policies that routinely oppressed blacks and other people of color without any justification. While apartheid is often depicted from the perspective of Nelson Mandela, the leader of the apartheid movement, and the blacks who endured severe oppression and won political freedom and the elimination of discrimination, this film takes the form of a protest against the atrocities of the policy by depicting the actions of activists who opposed apartheid even though they were white. This is a creation based on a true story. Tim and Steven planted explosives throughout the city, but in a very benign manner, not to cause death or injury, but to automatically distribute flyers with political slogans. Handing out flyers by hand would have resulted in immediate arrest by the authorities, and would also have been risky for those who picked them up. That is why they took the relatively weak explosion to literally scatter the flyers and make people pick them up, but unfortunately, the two were quickly caught by the police. Although the two men are subject to inbreeding for being white, they are not treated as badly as the black activists, and are sentenced to jail time at trial. They are then imprisoned, but since they are not people of color, who are the target of discrimination, I think they are given relatively mild treatment.
The prisoners are given enough food and exercise, so it does not seem that they are being treated inhumanly. It seems to me that the prison escape was not so much an escape from oppression, but rather a political act, as if the success of the escape would be part of a protest against a tyrannical regime.