For a 28-year-old man who was abducted in the Sudan and held captive for more than 20 days, walking the stony streets of his mother village once again feels like a daydream.

Thabo Siavhe arrived in Tshikwarani at around 22:30 on Tuesday last week.

Siavhe is one of the four men who were captured by North Sudanese soldiers while doing landmine-clearance work on a United Nations contract in Sudan on 28 April. The four workers apparently entered the wrong territory while busy with their duties as humanitarian relief workers. They all were eventually released on 20 May to former South African President and chief African Union mediator Mr Thabo Mbeki.

Of the four men, Thabo and a local Sudanese were actual employees of the state-owned Denel-Mechem company. Siavhe is an expert mechanic, driver and workshop manager.

Siavhe landed at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, welcomed by a crowd of journalists and well-wishers. At the airport, he met his mother, Vho-Johanna Mahlangu-Siavhe, who instantly became all smiles as joy and happiness overwhelmed her on seeing her son, after nearly a full month of pain, frustration and uncertainty.

That very night, he drove all the way from Gauteng to his home village, Tshikwarani, in the Kutama area. On Wednesday afternoon, together with the Limpopo Mirror, Thabo went to the chief's palace to pay his respects. “I am told by my employers that the Kutama Traditional Authority kept phoning Denel-Mechem day and night, enquiring about my health, security and the possibility of my release,” said Siavhe.

“Even the South African ambassador in Sudan told me about many calls they had received from your office. It really shows that you care about me.”

On Sunday morning, a welcoming event was held at the chief's kraal to present Siavhe to the Kutama populace. Siavhe said that he was happy to have reunited with his family and South Africa at large once more. He also added that people should not think that he had been abused physically in the Sudanese jail.

“I only feared for my life, even though I knew I was not a spy as they suspected us to be," he said. “Sudan carried out their investigations and released us. So, people mustn't fear to visit other African countries, even Sudan, because of what happened to me.”

Chief Vho-Vele Kutama said that they believed that Thabo had learnt a lot from his painful experiences in the Sudanese military jail. "We want to believe that you're now more than an ordinary male character," Chief Vho-Kutama addressed Siavhe during the event. "We wish you good health and prosperity. We hear that there are people who are going around spreading lies that Thabo had been arrested with a truckload of machine guns. You must stop spreading those lies now."

However, while he was in the jail, Siavhe said, he worried about his son greatly. “I feared he might grow up without knowing his father's face,” he spoke. He added that he would still be working for Denel-Mechem since he did not have the soul of a coward. "I am only negotiating a fully paid two month leave with my employers."