Challenges Over the Bechuanaland Route
On 29 May 1966, Mack Futha was deported to Zambia, thus implying that his mission to establish a pipeline into South Africa through Bechuanaland was proven to be abortive. The day before, on 28 May 1966, Mack Futha, was brought in for questioning in Francistown by a Special Branch Officer, and three days before, on 25 May, he had survived arrest in Maun, after disembarking from a flight that had landed from Livingstone.
After disembarking from the flight, on 25 May, Futha had produced a British passport issued in the name of Stephen Hliziyo, and completed his Declaration of Arrival Form using that name. The suspicious immigration officers took him aside and began questioning him. Futha told the officer that his reason for travelling was to see his mother in Francistown, who was staying at the house of Simeon Richard Mutshekwane, the Francistown assistant town clerk. Being further interrogated by the immigration officers, Futha eventually admitted that he was sent to establish an infiltration route for the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) personnel that were seeking access into Rhodesia from Zambia, through Bechuanaland. After the confession, Futha was allowed to leave Maun, without being arrested.
On 28 May, when Futha was brought in for questioning in Francistown by the Special Branch, he admitted his real identity and even confessed that his mission was to organise a route to be used by trained African National Congres
