ANGUISH OF ‘DRUG MULE’S’ MOM
3 000 South Africans are in foreign prisons
WHEN Patience Ramaliba heard that her daughter had been arrested for drug trafficking in India she sunk into a deep depression and later suffered a mild stroke.
Ramaliba, a hairdresser in the streets of Central Johannesburg, said she has only briefly spoken to her daughter for a few minutes since her arrest about two years ago.
Her daughter, Hangwani Veronica Ramaliba, is believed to be one of more than 1 000 South Africans languishing in foreign jails for drug trafficking.
She said she last saw Hangwani in December 2014 in Johannesburg where she lived with her boyfriend, who is a foreign national.
Ramaliba said she had been informed that Hangwani’s boyfriend, who has since moved in with another woman, had facilitated the trip. Ramaliba said she last spoke to Hangwani over a year ago when she was on her way to court where she said she was represented by Indian lawyer Thakur Karen Singh.
She said they were only allowed a few minutes and she never got to establish the facts of the case.
Ramaliba said Singh has since refused to speak to her, saying she should first pay the equivalent of R50 000 in legal fees before he can assist.
Yesterday, an irritable Singh told Sowetan he did not want to talk about the case and referred queries to the SA embassy.
When pressed further, he responded: “I am not answerable to you. This woman has been in jail for 18 months now and I have been getting hundreds of calls about her!”
According to Patricia Gerber of the organisation Locked Up in Foreign Country, the number of South Africans jailed for drug trafficking abroad could be more than 3 000.
She said four South Africans are currently on death row in Malaysia.
Gerber, whose organisation assists drug couriers arrested abroad, said many of the perpetrators are enticed into the trade by their economic situation.
“Not everyone is told that they are couriering drugs. Some of them are sold false promises of jobs and only realise when they get to their destinations that they have been lured into drug trafficking,” said Gerber.
She said they often get calls from desperate South Africans seeking help after being left in the lurch after refusing to courier drugs.
She said most of the drug couriers are vulnerable women and drug addicts who are forced to transport illegal substances as payment for their debt to dealers.
Ramaliba has been to the Union Buildings and even made a pilgrimage to the church of renowned Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri in a bid to find help.
She said Hangwani’s 10year-old daughter’s performance in school had declined and she often asks after her mother.
“I’m desperate and in need of help,” said Ramaliba.
A United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report identified South Africa as the origin, transit point, and/or destination of many drug trafficking routes.