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[size=14pt]South African minister's wife on cocaine charges[/size]
The wife of South Africa's intelligence minister has appeared in court accused of recruiting female 'mules' to smuggle cocaine into the country.

By Jane Flanagan in Cape Town
Published: 3:25PM GMT 30 Jan 2010
Sheryl Cwele: South African minister's wife on cocaine charges

[b]Sheryl Cwele, herself a high ranking local government official, will remain in custody until a bail application in several weeks time.

The 50-year-old faces charges alongside a Nigerian man relating to procuring two women to smuggle drugs from Turkey and South America.

One of the women, who claims she was directly recruited by Cwele, will appear as the state's main witness, prosecutors said.

The opposition Democratic Alliance has demanded that the arrested woman's husband, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, be brought before Parliament and consider his position, claiming that Cwele may have used her husband's contacts to gather intelligence to cover up her activities.

Mr Cwele has denied all knowledge of any alleged drug trafficking.

Cwele's arrest comes months after an investigation by a local newspaper which linked her to the jailing in Brazil of a single mother who was found with 22lbs (9.2kg) of cocaine in her luggage, worth approximately £300,000.

Pietermaritzburg High Court heard that Cwele, who was arrested at her municipal office on Friday, faces three charges alongside Nigerian Frank Nabolis[/b] - one count of dealing in dangerous dependency-producing drugs and two counts of incitement to dealing in dangerous dependency- producing drugs, dating back to May and June 2008.

The charges relate to procuring Charmaine Moss to collect drugs in Turkey and another, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle 9kg of cocaine from South America.

Prosecutors said they would oppose an application for bail.

In a statement, the Democratic Alliance, said: "This is disturbing news and raises a number of serious questions regarding the minister.

"We believe that he must demonstrate to the South African public that he is in no way compromised by this matter; if he fails to do so, he ought to stand down from his position right away."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/7111899/South-African-ministers-wife-on-cocaine-charges.html