Dealing justice

RUG dealers are shameless people whose actions cause misery and suffering, particularly among those who become addicted to the drugs they peddle.

Sheryl Cwele and Frank Nabolisa are two such ignominious people. Cwele, the 50-year-old former wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, and her co-accused, Nigerian businessman Nabolisa, 42, have now been dealt a tough hand by the Supreme Court of Appeal with their appeals being dismissed and their prison sentences increasing to 20 years.

They had been found guilty in May last year of drug dealing by the Pietermaritzburg High Court and sentenced to 12 years each.

Both had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to deal in drugs, to procuring a woman, Charmaine Moss, to collect drugs in Turkey, and to procuring another woman, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle cocaine from South America back to SA.

As a result of their actions, Beetge, 35, is languishing in a Brazilian jail, serving an eightyear sentence.

The appeal court noted that it was only through the courage and determination of her mother that the real culprits – the masterminds – had been brought to book in SA.

The court has reminded us that status or social standing is of no consequence before the law.

It is particularly galling that Cwele, a trained nurse and a senior manager at the Hibiscus Coast Municipality, involved herself in such an evil trade, which destroys lives.

Several young SA women have been caught trying to smuggle drugs in recent months.

One was executed without any compunction by the Chinese.

It is one thing to catch and punish the drug mules, but the Cwele case shows that it is important for the authorities to go after the big fish – the dealers.

Let this be a lesson to others out there.