'Help SA prisoners abroad'

Lawyers for drug mule Nolubabalo Nobanda, who is serving a 15-year term in a Thai prison, are lobbying the South African government to sign a prisoner transfer treaty with the Asian country.

In a letter to President Jacob Zuma, the lawyers call for "urgent intervention" to ensure "better treatment" of South African prisoners in Thailand.

According to the letter, Nobanda and her fellow prisoners are "very concerned" about prison conditions, which do not allow them access to basic supplies such as toilet paper and antiretroviral drugs.

Foreign prisoners at Klong Prem Central Prison, in Bangkok, are expected to pay for their own food, uniform, toiletry, medication, blankets and laundry. The money usually comes from relatives or the missionaries who visit them.

The lawyers want the government to enter into a prisoner-transfer treaty with Thailand "in terms of which, once a prisoner has finished a portion of his or her sentence, he or she would be repatriated to complete the remainder of the sentence in [this country]. This could be a third or quarter of the prisoner's sentence".

Nobanda's family and lawyers met Eastern Cape MEC for social development Nancy Sihlwayi on Friday to describe her "dire situation".

Advocate Matthew Mpahlwa, who represents Nobanda, said Sihlwayi showed "great interest" and had asked Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to provide basic supplies to the prisoners.

Mpahlwa said: "This is a human rights matter and we want our government to use the relevant channels to help not only Nobanda but other South African prisoners abroad."

Nobanda's mother, Honjiswa Mbewu, said knowing of the conditions under which her daughter was being forced to live gave her sleepless nights.

Mbewu said she spent R2000 a month on basic supplies for her daughter and was now R10000 in debt.

"We're not saying they must be set free. But even if they are criminals they deserve to be treated as human beings," she said.

More than 1 000 South Africans are imprisoned abroad.