PIETERMARITZBURG (Sapa) - Tessa Beetge, the KwaZulu-Natal woman imprisoned in Brazil for drug trafficking, was recruited by the wife of the state security minister, the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard on Wednesday.
"Sheryl Cwele [the wife of Minister Siyabonga Cwele] sent her a cellphone text message telling her about the job overseas," Beetge's mother, Marie Swanepoel, told the court.
She was testifying on the third day of the drug trafficking trial of Cwele and Nigerian national, Frank Nabolisa.
Swanepoel told the court how excited her daughter was when Cwele allegedly organised an overseas job for her which would see her getting free travel, free accommodation, free clothing and GBP1000.
She said that during a meeting at Cwele's office at the Hibiscus Coast Municipality in Uvongo, her daughter had been told she would do administrative work in London.
Cwele allegedly told Beetge and Swanepoel that she had decided to organise the job for Beetge because she was tired of travelling overseas.
Cwele had allegedly given Beetge R500 for an air ticket from Durban International Airport to Johannesburg.
Beetge had been picked up at OR Tambo International Airport by Nabolisa and his wife, only identified as Nomsa, before she left the country, the court heard.
"She was very excited. It was her first trip out of the country. She took it as an opportunity to see the world."
Beetge left the country on May 20, 2008.
"When she left South Africa she landed in JF Kennedy Airport and she moved to Peru," she said.
Swanepoel said her daughter had contacted her after her arrest in Brazil. It was not revealed in court how she ended up in Brazil.
Beetge was supposed to come back on June 4, 2008, but she did not because she was always told the planes were full, said Swanepoel.
"She told me that she was getting different excuses."
The State alleged that Cwele and Nabolisa conspired to recruit Charmaine Moss and Beetge as drug mules. Beetge was currently serving an eight-year jail sentence in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after 10kg of raw cocaine was found in her luggage.
Cwele and Nabolisa were arrested in January and faced three charges --dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs; procuring Moss to collect drugs in Turkey; and procuring Beetge to smuggle 10kg of cocaine from South America.
Cwele was granted R100,000 bail on February 5. Nabolisa was denied bail because the court considered him a flight risk.
Swanepoel told the court she had decided to take the story about her daughter's arrest to the Sunday Times after she got no joy from the now defunct Scorpions nor the police.
She said she had reported her daughter's arrest to police in Cape Town because she felt she would not get the necessary assistance in Margate as the police there knew Cwele.
When Swanepoel learnt her daughter was arrested, she contacted Cwele who promised that the Brazilian embassy would contact Swanepoel.
"The Brazilian embassy did not contact me. Cwele said she did not know Frank. She also said she did not know that my daughter was in Peru," she said.
During cross-examination, Cwele's counsel Mvuseni Ngubane said he had been told that the reason Beetge said she was going overseas was because her mother, Swanepoel, did not want her to work in Johannesburg.
"She said she would not take up the job in Johannesburg because you did not allow her to work in Johannesburg. That is why they [Cwele and Beetge] hatched a plan to deceive you," said Ngubane.
He said Cwele, who was Beetge's neighbour in 2002, organised a job for Beetge because she had complained of struggling to find work.
Ngubane said Cwele had spoken to Nabolisa about giving Beetge a job as he was looking for white people to market his business to the white community.
Moss did not arrive in court on Wednesday or Tuesday, when the trial was delayed, because she told the State she was in a poor emotional state. The nature of her problem was not divulged.
She testified on Monday and was supposed to be cross-examined by Ngubane.
She faxed a doctor's letter to the court on Wednesday morning which stated she would not be available until October 29.
Ngubane reacted angrily to the letter, saying it was very unsatisfactory.
"It raises a lot of questions. If the witness was that ill, she would have been admitted in hospital," he said.
Judge Piet Koen also raised concerns about the doctor's letter, saying that the matter needed to be investigated.
The trial continues.