On the evening of 18 January 1963, Justice Gizenga Mpanza, Shadrack Maphumulo and Michael Mvula were at the back of the Argyle Hotel on Clarke Street, Durban, with a carrier bag having cords on top lying in front of them. The carrier bag contained red rubber gloves, a green cord and a rectangular black parcel, that was 7.6 cm by 20.3 cm, and four 10.1 cm high, almost the size of a small box of Choice Assorted biscuits. One of the three, Shadrack Maphumulo, was struggling to put on the red rubber gloves, and his companions were helping him.
The group then moved to Umbilo Road, where Justice Mpanza and Shadrack Maphumulo crept towards a building that housed the apartheid National Party’s regional offices as well as its newspaper in the province, the “Nataller”. Michael Mvula remained on the other side of the road, while Justice Mpanza and Shadrack Maphumulo were dodging a less vigilant night-watchman who was sitting on a wooden box on the opposite side of the building.
At the target building, Mpanza placed five cylindrical sticks of dynamite against the front wall, attached a detonator with a fuse, and then pulled the fuse along the wall of the building, which was out of sight from the traffic. While Shadrack Maphumulo was holding the fuse, Justice Mpanza sliced it close to a forty-five degree angle, filled a capsule with acid, and placed it into a match box containing white powder. He then clamped the cut part of the fuse into the match box. Mpanza then informed Ma
