Durban - In three days, Sheryl Cwele will swop her high heels and formal wear for the bright orange garb of correctional services when she starts serving her 20-year jail sentence for drug smuggling.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed an appeal made by Cwele, the ex-wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, and her co-accused Frank Nabolisa against their convictions. Instead the court increased their original 12-year sentence to 20 years, saying the original sentence was “disturbingly inappropriate”.
Now Cwele has three days to hand herself over to correctional services or face arrest.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed earlier this year that if the appeal failed, it was the end of the road for the duo as they had not raised constitutional challenges during their appeal and could not approach the Constitutional Court.
In his judgment, SCA Judge President Lex Mpati, with four judges concurring, found that Cwele and Nabolisa had recruited South Coast women Charmaine Moss and Tessa Beetge to smuggle drugs into SA.
“She (Cwele) knew that Beetge was required to bring something that was unlawful to possess. Thereafter Beetge was arrested with cocaine. The inference is irresistible that Sheryl knew the substance was cocaine.”
Beetge was found guilty of smuggling cocaine in Brazil in June 2008 and is currently serving an eight-year sentence.
Judge Mpati found that the 12-year sentence that each had received by the trial court was “disturbingly inappropriate” and ordered that they serve 20 years.
NPA provincial spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said Cwele, who has been out on R100 000 bail since her arrest in February 2010, would have to hand herself over to prison authorities within three days after her attorney received a copy of the judgment.
Ramkisson said if Cwele did not hand herself in, a warrant for her arrest would be issued and the police would step in.
Nabolisa, who was denied bail in 2010, has been in prison since then and will immediately start serving his sentence.
Cwele’s lawyer, Madoda Nxumalo, said last night that he had been in court the whole of on Monday and had only read part of the judgment.
“It would be premature for me to say anything at this stage, I have not even read the whole judgment or consulted with my client.”
Nxumalo confirmed that the usual procedure was that an accused had to surrender to prison authorities three days after judgment. However, he added that the registrar of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court would have to inform them in writing when Cwele had to hand herself over. “We will wait for that correspondence before we do anything,” Nxumalo said.
Cwele could not be reached on her cellphone, and The Mercury went to her home on the South Coast but she declined to comment.
After The Mercury team called for her several times outside her house, Cwele eventually emerged with a young girl and asked: “What do you want?”
She was not pleased when she saw a photographer she knew.
“It is you. You are such a nuisance,” she said as she walked back inside the house. Cwele’s neighbours, who did not want to named, said they looked out for her as she had fallen on hard times.
One neighbour said she had bought Cwele food and groceries after she heard that she was struggling financially.
“During Eid, I asked my housekeeper to send over biscuits and juice. Sheryl came and thanked me in the afternoon. She was crying and told me she had not eaten in two days.”
The woman said she sympathised with Cwele because she seemed to be in a bad state. “I felt bad for her because we are neighbours.” Another neighbour said he looked after Cwele’s home when she was not there.
“A lot of people trouble her so she does not answer her cellphone. She keeps to herself and goes to church. Her kids visit her sometimes,” he said.
Beetge’s mother, Marie Swanepoel, who has made it her mission to get her daughter out of jail, said she was delighted by the court’s ruling. “I have been waiting for a long time. She (Cwele) deserves the full 20 years,” she said.
On arriving at his harsher, 20-year sentence, Judge Mpati had commented that it was through Swanepoel’s “courage and determination” that Nabolisa and Cwele had been caught.
Swanepoel said she would contact the authorities in Brazil on Tuesday, notifying them and her daughter of the latest developments.
“I think Tessa will jump out of her skin when she hears the news. I have asked Foreign Affairs if they can assist in any way. I hope this judgment will help us get Tessa’s sentence reduced.”
Swanepoel said she kept in contact with her daughter through e-mails, which, at times, took six weeks to arrive.
“Tessa always tells us, via e-mails or letters, that she wants to come back and misses her children. But she has good faith and we cannot wait to have her back. Her children are coping and we have told them everything,” she said.
She added that Cwele and Nabolisa had been given what they deserved.
“A lot of families have suffered because of Cwele. Even if she got 18 years we would have been delighted. I am waiting to see her behind bars.”
State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, who divorced Cwele last year, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
His spokesman Brian Dube said the minister did not want to make any comment on the case.
The Mercury