On 26 January 1963, Detective Inspector Roderick Ivy of the Southern Rhodesia’s British South Africa Police (BSAP) headed to Bulawayo Central Railway Station on information received from the Northern Rhodesia (BSAP) regarding a contingent of passengers in an inbound train from Northern Rhodesia.
At approximately 19:10, when the train arrived at the Bulawayo Central Railway Station, a group of nine Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadres emerged from it, which included Henry Fazzie, James Chirwa, Alfred Jantjies, Alfred Khonza, Matthews Makhalima, Ernest Malgaz, Maxwell Mayekiso, Jack Ndzuzo and Isaac Rani. The nine cadres were the first group of MK cadres to be trained in Ethiopia, where Nelson Mandela had received his military training the previous year. The group was supposed to meet Motsamai Mpho in Palapye for further instructions before entering South Africa.
At the Bulawayo Central Station, Detective Inspector Ivy introduced himself as a police officer to the group of nine and mentioned that he had reason to believe that they were prohibited immigrants in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. He then asked them to accompany him to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) offices where they were officially arrested.
On 27 January 1963, the nine were transported by Detective Duncan McDermot of the Bulawayo CID under police escort to the Messina border post, where they were handed over to Warrant Officer Holmes of the apartheid South African Police.
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