Mule can't testify via Skype

In a day of critical rulings Sheryl Cwele, wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, still managed to smile yesterday when the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled against allowing convicted drug mule Tessa Beetge to testify against her via the Skype network from Brazil.

But the accused drug trafficker will not be smiling today when the state presents its strongest evidence - transcripts of intercepted cellphone calls - to prove that Cwele and Nigerian Frank Nabolisa were involved in international drug trafficking.

After considering lengthy arguments made two months ago by Cwele and Nabolisa's defence teams, Judge Piet Koen yesterday ruled that the intercepted calls between the duo and Beetge were admissible.

The prosecution immediately began its second legal battle by bringing an application for Beetge, who is serving an eight-year prison term in Sao Paulo, to be allowed to give evidence on Skype of how she was allegedly recruited by the Cwele and Nabolisa to courier drugs.

Beetge was arrested in 2008 when Brazilian police found 10kg of cocaine in her luggage at an airport.

Senior prosecutor Ian Cooke said that he had gained permission from authorities to allow Beetge to testify over the internet through the South African Consulate in Brazil.

"They would co-operate and they have the facilities . there is a document signed between South Africa and Brazil stating that mutual police work can be done with regard to matters of drug trafficking," he said.

Cooke said he was surprised Cwele did not want Beetge to confirm her version of events, which was that the two entered into an agreement to deceive Beetge's mother by "concocting" a story that she was to work in London - when she was, in fact, in Johannesburg.

Cwele's lawyer, Mvuseni Ngubane, asked the court not to pay any attention to Cooke's "surprise".

He argued that Cwele would be denied the opportunity to witness first-hand the responses of Beetge if she were allowed to testify via Skype.

"It would trample on the rights of the accused in a very big way," he said.

Ngubane claimed the application was tainted because there was a perception that Cooke made the decision to have Beetge testify only after he had spoken to Koen.

At the start of the trial, Koen asked the state if Beetge was going to testify because she was a "crucial" witness who held most of the answers.

Ngubane referred to an e-mail last week in which Cooke mentioned that he had spoken to Koen about the judgement on the admissibility of the transcripts and stated that he would be making an application for Beetge to testify via Skype.

"It seems there was a conversation with the judge and the state in the absence of the defence. We submit that the application is tainted and it impacts on the fairness of the trial."

Ngubane also expressed concern about a Special Assignment interview with Beetge, which was broadcast by SABC3 in November.

Koen interrupted Ngubane to say that he intended to ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to determine if the SABC had committed a criminal offence by broadcasting the interview with a state witness.

After Koen ruled against the application, Cooke indirectly revealed that the state would abandon its attempts to have the convicted drug mule testify against Cwele and Nabolisa.

He said that the state would today present evidence revealed in the intercepted calls before it closed its case against the duo.