Minister's wife in drug scandal

2009-03-15 14:40

Johannesburg - Intelligence minister Siyabonga Cwele has made dealing with accusations of drug smuggling against his wife Sheryl a "priority", said a spokesperson on Sunday.

"He's basically said he's dealing with this as a priority because of its impact on his work," said spokesperson Lorna Daniels.

She declined to say exactly how this controversy would affect the minister's work.

"You can draw your own conclusions on that one," said Daniels.

She was reacting to the Sunday Times's front-page report about Sheryl Cwele's connection to a South African woman arrested in Brazil for drug smuggling.

Tessa Beetge was arrested at a Sao Paolo airport with a 9kg block of cocaine with an estimated street value of R3 million.

While her family claimed Cwele offered her an overseas job, Cwele maintained that a friend of Beetge organised the trip and that she was asked to "make-up" SMSes so that Beetge could lie to her family about its arrangement.

In the Sunday Times, Cwele said "I'm innocent... I wish I'd never helped her, but I trusted her and I felt sorry for her.

The Sunday Times published SMSes and e-mails Cwele exchanged with Beetge, while she was in Peru and Brazil.

In the article, Cwele denied even knowing that Beetge was in those countries.

Police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer told the Sunday Times police were aware of the detention of Beetge, but that because of its policy on ongoing investigations, she was unable to give out any details at this point.

- SAPA