Cwele, who is set to start a 20-year prison term, did not speak to waiting journalists.

Smartly dressed in black dress and wearing a black and white floral coat, Cwele entered the building. She was expected to be taken to Durban's Westville prison in a police van later.

Cwele and her co-accused Frank Nabolisa failed to have their convictions overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday. The court also increased their sentences from 12 to 20 years.

Cwele was given three days upon receipt of the judgment to hand herself to authorities.

The two were found guilty of drug dealing by the Pietermaritzburg High Court in May 2011. 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.

Nabolisa had been in custody until now. Cwele was out on R100,000 bail. She is the ex-wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele.