This week in a Fish Hoek bedroom, Lungelo Ndlovu packed away Thokozani Mthethwa’s prized Armani Exchange sneakers for the last time.  

The two friends, from Durban, bought the shoes in Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates while working there as lifeguards earlier this year.  

But Covid-19 cut their Dubai tenure short and they spent lockdown in Durban. Later, they were thrilled to land contracts to patrol Cape Town’s Muizenberg Beach – famous for its for buzzing surf scene – over six months this coming summer. 

Ndlovu (23) and Mthethwa (21) were sharing a room in Fish Hoek; when, a month into their contracts, tragedy hit.  

Friends Lungelo Ndlovu and Thokozani Mthethwa returning to South Africa from Dubai. Photo: Supplied

Last Saturday afternoon during a rescue mission to help a distressed kite-surfer, Mthethwa fell off a sled attached to a jet-ski, some 50m offshore, instantly disappearing beneath choppy waves. On Monday, after a gruelling three-day search, his body was found washed ashore between Sonwabe and Sunrise Beach.  

Ndlovu spoke to Daily Maverick hours after identifying his friend’s body at a Cape Town morgue on Thursday. Over the phone, his voice holds firm and friendly. “Thokozani was behind glass,” he says. “A lady opened the curtain and I saw his face, I saw that it was him. He looked so innocent, his eyes were closed.” 

Mthethwa and Ndlovu met in 2017 at uShaka Marine World on Durban’s beachfront, where they worked as lifeguards at the waterpark.  

“One of my first impression of Thokozani was that he was always happy,” says Ndlovu. “You know, he was always pulling jokes with people. For example he’d make up stories of a dream he’d had the previous night, always getting everyone to laugh. He was that kind of guy. And everyone knew how much he loved his girlfriend. 

“He was also a very smart man and very passionate about his job. His life motto was to always learn more. He was very energetic. I mean, I introduced him to bodybuilding here in Cape Town. We joined a gym, Zone Fitness in Fish Hoek. He wanted to shock everyone with his new muscles when we got back home to Durban, especially his girlfriend. We were renting in Fish Hoek; sharing a room together, sharing a bed. Now, I’ve packed all his stuff into his suitcase. His laptop, his clothes, the Armani Exchange sneakers…” 

Late Muizenberg lifeguard from Durban Thokozani Mthethwa(R) and his girlfriend of three years, Kyra Smith.Photo: Supplied

Ndlovu recalls the fun they had in the United Arab Emirates: “It was a great experience. I went in 2018; then Thokozani and I went together in 2019. Working under those conditions, it is difficult. I mean the heat would get up to 50 degrees Celsius. We were indoors a lot of the time, chilling in the room, shopping at the mall. We bought a lot of clothes with expensive brands.” 

This week Sue-Ellen Martin (39), the only woman among 70 professional lifeguards patrolling eThekwini Municipality’s beaches last season, recalled working with Mthethwa at Durban surfing hotspot Battery Beach.

“Yes I had the fortune to work with him,” she says. “My heart is broken. It’s a pain only lifeguards will know because the reality is, we know how painful it is to run out of air while fighting in the water. We have seen hundreds of families cry at the ocean, asking for their family member back. We know what happens when you have been in the water for too long, lost. We feel his pain. He was such a great boy.” 

Thokozani Mthethwa. Photo: Supplied

Mthethwa matriculated at Protea Secondary School in Chatsworth and lived in Mobeni Heights. Together with his girlfriend of three years, Kyra Smith, he dreamed of one day opening a swimming school on the KwaZulu-Natal’s coast. 

Born to Themba and Thembisile, Mthethwa sent money home to his family each month. Themba works as a cleaner at Excelsior Primary School, where his four boys were schooled. Thembisile is unemployed.

Speaking from Mobeni Heights, Themba’s voice breaks over the phone. There is a language barrier and the conversation is slow. 

“I am choking, I am crying,” he says. “Thokozani was a quiet boy, a nice boy. Every month he was sending money to support the family. Money used to buy food and clothes. He started swimming and doing lifesaving to support the family. Now we are waiting for his body to be returned. He was in the water a long time, so the body won’t be right any more. It is too much pain for the family, we are anxious for him to come home now.”  

Late Muizenberg lifeguard from Durban Thokozani Mthethwa. Photo: Supplied

Mthethwa’s elder brother Mondli (28), also a lifesaver who helped to teach Mthethwa to swim, adds: “Culturally we just want to put him to rest now. We don’t want to argue, we want to give him a better place.”  

But, what happened on Saturday? 

“Thokozani was a really strong swimmer,” says Ndlovu. “So even for us lifeguards, we really don’t know what happened. There were kite-surfers struggling further out at sea. He saw them, so they got the jet-ski ready to be launched. A senior lifeguard was driving the jet-ski, with Thokozani behind him on a little sled. The sea was choppy, but they got past the first wave. On the third wave, the driver realised Thokozani was missing. He turned around, starting to look, then calling for help. There were deep divers, looking for him.

“We searched the whole area. I was there, using a torpedo, those floating devices used to save people. Unfortunately we could not find anything. Normally someone would float for a couple of seconds, before sinking; not disappear immediately like Thokozani did. It was heartbreaking. The moment I came out of the water, I messaged his brother, Mondli, who is a lifesaver too. His girlfriend of three years is back in Durban; Kyra, they were dreaming of starting a swimming school, she is devastated.” 

Every summer season, lifeguards risk their own lives to save countless of lives as thousands of revellers descend on South Africa’s beaches. Martin relays how she used to work in banking, but that she switched to a career in lifesaving when she was 32 years old. 

“I love what lifeguards stand for,” she says. “Nothing beats saving people. There is no greater reward than doing a job you love. I feel like I am no longer working, but living. Being a lifeguard is a passion not a job.”  

She is a single mother of two daughters. Sometimes her job keeps her awake at night: “The families that are left after a drowning. Their cries and heartache. Sometimes I worry for my own family – the fear that tomorrow I could go to work and run in for a rescue and never make it out, leaving my own beautiful girls behind.” 

Ndlovu adds that he will complete his lifeguarding contract in Cape Town this summer. “It’s what Thokozani would have wanted,” he says. He hopes to be able to travel to Durban to attend his friend’s burial.  

On whether the City of Cape Town is assisting with transporting Mthethwa’s body back to Durban, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien, said that they were in daily contact with the family. 

“At this stage arrangements are being made to finalise the post-mortem. Thereafter the city will be in a position to determine how best to support the family in arranging logistics for the memorial and burial,” he said.  DM/MC