Brazilian authorities allowed convicted drug mule Tessa Beetge to pen a tribute to her mother who was laid to rest in the Eastern Cape.
More than 50 family and friends attended Margie Swanepoel’s funeral service at the Marais Steyn Old Age Home, in Steynburg, on Thursday.
She died after suffering organ failure after a stomach operation.
Beetge’s tribute was e-mailed to Swanepoel’s sister, Margie Olsen, on Wednesday evening.
Beetge was arrested in Sao Paulo in 2008, after more than 10kg of cocaine was found in her luggage. She is serving her eight-year sentence at the Penitenciaria Feminina da Capital Prison, in Brazil.
She was informed of her mother’s death early last week and was inconsolable, Olsen said.
The tribute was read out by Tessa’s sister, Zelda Smit.
It read: “Thank you for being my mom. Thank you for your everlasting love and support. Thank you for always being there. Thank you for being my pillar of strength. Thank you for the commitment and strength you have given us. Thank you for everything. I will miss you, but will remember what you stood for and know that God had a special plan for you. Nikita, Roxanne and I love you mommy and oumie always. You are always in our hearts and soul...”
Swanepoel had been campaigning tirelessly for her daughter’s early release.
At the funeral, Olsen pledged to continue with the fight to have Beetge released early.
Swanepoel was in a coma when a judge in Brazil was hearing her application for Beetge’s early release. No decision has been given to date.
Convicted drug dealer Sheryl Cwele, and her accomplice, Frank Nabolisa, recruited Beetge and offered her work overseas.
Cwele, the ex-wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, and Nabolisa were convicted in 2011 of dealing in cocaine and are serving 12-year sentences.
The pair successfully appealed in the Constitutional Court against the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision to increase their sentences to 20 years.
Swanepoel was instrumental in Cwele and Nabolisa’s conviction and had said the Brazilian authorities would consider a reduction in her daughter’s sentence should Cwele and Nabolisa be convicted.
She had written tirelessly to the Brazilian authorities, including President Dilma Rousseff, asking for a pardon.
Olsen said: “Marie I promise you I will finish your story. Today we are celebrating your life.”
She said her sister was a quiet, gentle and unassuming person, yet she had more strength than all of them put together.
Swanepoel had lived in the hope of seeing her daughter again, Olsen said.
“She suffered so much, but she never gave up. She divorced her husband Swanee last year and was living in Steynsburg.”
Olsen had bought her a house.
Initially Swanepoel had been allowed to speak to Beetge twice a year – on her birthday (May 9) and at Christmas.
But in the past year those privileges were taken away from Beetge. That was when Swanepoel moved to Steynsburg.
Beetge’s two teenage daughters – Nikita and Roxanne – live with their father.
He got custody of them after her arrest. They had been divorced for a number of years. The girls have only spoken to their mother once in the past five years. They were clearly distressed at the passing of their grandmother,
but they live in the hope of seeing their mother soon.
Beetge’s sisters, Brenda and Zelda Smit (they are married to brothers), live in Australia.
They, too, were devastated at their mother’s death, which was only conveyed to them when they arrived in South Africa.
They have also had no contact with Beetge since her incarceration.
“We cannot wait to see our sister Tessa again,” they said.
Swanepoel’s parents are still alive and distraught at their daughter’s death.
Olsen said her sister had become frail in the past year, but still lived with hope of seeing Beetge again.
She said her family would never forgive Sheryl Cwele and would never give up on the hope of Beetge’s early release.