Mhlupeki Hlongwane and Mxoshwa Mdhluli were banished from Ngoba Location, Bergville District, Natal [now KwaZulu-Natal]on 11 April 1957. Their banishment orders were a consequence of developments related to the killing of five police officers during a dagga raid in February 1956; 22 of those responsible were apprehended and sentenced to death.
According to Mdhluli, on 12 April 1957 the police took Mhlupeki Hlongwane, the son of Mdhluli’s chief, and himself to the Native Commissioner’s office at Bergville.
Mdhluli recounted:
It ended there at the office, and we were taken to the sergeant’s quarters, where we were treated like criminals. Our fingerprints were taken; we were examined for identification marks like criminals. We were handcuffed and taken to the cells and brought the next morning to a train. At Pietersburg [now Polokwane, Limpopo], I parted from Hlongwane and I did not ever see him again. Hlongwane was banished to Mutaledrif, Sibasa District, Transvaal [now Tshivhase, Limpopo Province].
Hlongwane died in banishment on 15 February 1961 at Sibasa Hospital, [now Tshivhase, Limpopo Province].
• Contribution by Professor S. Badat on Banishment, Rhodes University, 2012. From the book, Forgotten People - Political Banishment under Apartheid by Professor S. Badat