Joseph Nduli and Cleophas Ndlovu Abducted on the SA-Swaziland Border
In the evening of 25 March 1976, precisely fifty years ago, apartheid Security Branch Major Jacobus de Swardt was leading a section of nine police officers who had accompanied Samson Lukhele to the crossing point in the Pongola-Piet Retief Road, where “illicit” border crossings were taking place. After waiting for a few hours, they decided that nothing was going to take place that night, and they opted to go home.
Just as soon as they were getting out of the bush towards the Kombi they were travelling in, they saw a torch light flashing twice and they decided to stop a few hundred metres beyond the bridge. The time was approximately 20:30, when Joseph “Mpisi” Nduli and Cleophas Melayibone “Gash” Ndlovu were approaching the bridge from the bush on the Swaziland side of the border. De Swardt’s team then got into the Kombi and travelled back to the signboard next to the bridge, with the park lights on.
At that time Samson Lukhele tried to make contact again by striking a match. When Nduli saw the match-light, he told Ndlovu, “Oh, it is Lukhele”. At a closer distance Joseph Nduli called out “Mbuzi-Mbuzi”, the agreed signal, and a voice answered “Ja”. Lukhele then approached Nduli and Ndlovu and asked why they were so late. Nduli responded that they had lost their way and he then introduced Ndlovu to Lukhele. Lukhele then left them and returned to the Kombi to converse with the
