For 40 long years George Simelane has been looking for his daughter. But the police couldn't help him, and the TV programmes Zola 7 and Khumbul' iKhaya - which reunite families - didn't respond to his pleas.
It was the perseverance of another daughter, Emily Mfengwana, and the help of a friend - as well as a cellphone number - that led to his reunion on Friday with his now-married daughter, Evelyn Parkies.
"For 40 years I have been looking for her. I almost died before she could see me. God is great," were the only words Simelane could utter while consoling his weeping daughter.
"I don't know what to say," said Parkies tearfully. "I have always wanted to see my real family and had lost all hope that I would ever see them. I am married now with five children and I am so delighted that my children now have the opportunity to see my family."
Simelane's search began in 1966 after a sickly friend, Richard Jwarha, asked Simelane if one of his children could accompany him from Cape Town to his home in rural Matatiele, now in KwaZulu Natal. Simelane allowed little Evelyn, then aged 7, to go.
But after they arrived in Matatiele, Jwarha passed away and his wife - now deceased - didn't have the means or the know-how to take Evelyn home.
She also couldn't afford to look after Evelyn and her own children, and asked her sister to care for them. Evelyn grew up with the surname Radebe, but she never forgot her blood family.
All that Simelane had was an incomplete address for Jwarha in Matatiele, but he kept it.
Recently, his other daughter, Emily, called the Matatiele police station and was referred to the local post office, which gave her the complete Jwarha address - as well as a cellphone contact number.
The person who answered referred Emily to someone else, and she hit paydirt.
"The second call we made, somebody knew her and gave us the right number for my sister." Evelyn had been found.
"I just cried when I heard her voice," said Emily. She said she always knew that God would answer their prayers, and now she was looking forward to meeting her nieces and nephews.
"I am glad this day has finally come, and I want to thank my friend Selinah for the support she gave me all these years," Emily said.