S.African minister’s wife gets 12 years for drug running

Sheryl Cwele, the wife of South Africa’s intelligence minister, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for drug trafficking after being convicted of hiring young women as mules.

Cwele’s Nigerian co-accused, Frank Nabolisa, was also jailed for 12 years at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the eastern KwaZulu Natal province.

“Many families are affected by drugs which are brought here illegally. They suffer as a result of dealers who often initiate addiction by constant supply and thrive on that addiction,” Judge Piet Koen was quoted as saying SAPA news agency as he handed down the sentence.

Cwele and Nabolisa had been convicted on Thursday.