By Bronwyn Gerretsen
Sheryl Cwele, the Hibiscus Coast municipality's director of health and community services, reported for work on Monday after being released on R100 000 bail last week, but her time back at the office could be short-lived if the council's executive committee decides to suspend her.
Cwele, who is facing charges of drug dealing, was released on bail by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday, and returned to work amid speculation about whether she would in fact do so.
However, the municipality's spokesman, Simon Soboyisa, said on Monday that the municipality's manager, S'bu Mkhize, would submit a report on Cwele to the executive committee meeting next Tuesday, after which a decision would be made whether or not to suspend her, pending the outcome of her trial.
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He said Mkhize had sought permission from the executive committee to look through Cwele's employment contract to see if there were grounds to suspend her.
Cwele, the wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, was out of her office for most of Monday, attending meetings. She was also expected to attend meetings for most of Tuesday.
Cwele, along with her co-accused, Nigerian Frank Nabolisa, are facing three charges of dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs, procuring a woman named Charmaine Moss to collect drugs in Turkey and another, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle 9kg of cocaine.
Beetge was arrested in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 13, 2008, after the cocaine was found concealed in her baggage.
E-mails, SMSes and prison letters link Nabolisa and Cwele - who would be appearing in court again on Friday - to Beetge.
Cwele applied for and was granted sick leave from her job at the municipality once news of her alleged involvement in the drug smuggling broke early in 2009. She returned two months later.
Cwele has maintained her innocence, saying that she regretted helping Beetge, who she had trusted, to gain employment.
Beetge and her family said Cwele had promised her a job in London.
In December Nabolisa, who was thought to be a Nigerian drug lord and is alleged to have links with Cwele, was arrested on the East Rand for drug dealing.
The 41-year-old had left South Africa in March last year, soon after reports of Cwele's alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking syndicate and Beetge's arrest surfaced.
Cwele was arrested at her Hibiscus Coast Municipality offices on January 29.
She had locked herself in the bathroom for about half an hour when police arrived, before Mkhize was eventually asked to intervene. She spent a week in jail before being granted bail on Friday.
Judge Sharmaine Balton found that Cwele had not made any attempts to evade justice, although she had known about the investigation into her supposed involvement with Beetge and the other allegations against her.
The State had led evidence that Cwele had four passports.
bronwyn. gerretsen@inl.co.za
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This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on February 09, 2010
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