The Young Communist League (YCL) has jumped on the bandwagon in appealing to the South African government for support of the convicted Joza drug mule Nolubabalo “Babsie” Nobanda.
The Young Communist League (YCL) has jumped on the bandwagon in appealing to the South African government for support of the convicted Joza drug mule Nolubabalo “Babsie” Nobanda.
The YCL is the latest group to join the lobby campaign for the repatriation of Nonanda from Thailand's Klong Prem prison so she can finish her sentence in a South African prison.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail this week, the provincial chairperson of the League, S'thembele Zuka, said, "We have passed a motion of no confidence on Thailand's rehabilitation programme."
Zuka said the treatment of South African prisoners in Thailand is a violation of human rights and casts doubt on the country's rehabilitation programme. He said the League has met with Nobanda's lawyers to pledge their support.
Last month lawyers and Nobanda's family made urgent applications to the South African government. They called for immediate intervention for South African prisoners serving time in shocking conditions in Thailand’s Klong Prem prison.
The call came after Nobanda wrote a moving letter to her mother, describing the appalling conditions at the prison. District Secretary of the YCL and Chairperson of the SACP Simphiwe Rune said a district of committee meeting will be held next week to discuss their intervention plan.
"The plan is to march to the Grahamstown high court and hand over the petition," he said.
The applications for an intervention were submitted to the Office of the Presidency (OTP), the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development. Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development in the Eastern Cape, Nancy Sihlwayi, visited Nobanda's Ncame Street home in Joza last month.
Sihlwayi accepted an application from the family and lawyers. She promised the family that her department would support their endeavour. Nolubabalo's mother, Honjiswa Mbewu, said prison rules had become even more stringent after prison officials found drugs hidden in sanitary towels and toilet paper in Nobanda’s cell. Nobanda shares her cell with other people.
The application to the Presidency calls for President Jacob Zuma to negotiate a prison transfer treaty with his Thailand counterpart. If the two countries sign the treaty, Nobanda, who is 25 and is serving a 15-year jail term in Thailand, could serve the rest of her sentence in a South African prison.
Nobanda was arrested in 2011 for smuggling cocaine in her dreadlocks. Her lawyer and uncle Ntsikelelo Sandi said they have also submitted a petition to the Thai royal house for Nobanda to benefit from Royal Parole.
"Every prisoner is eligible for the royal pardon and it is one of our options," Sandi said. Speaking to Grocott’s Mail after the meeting, Mbewu said, “I am happy about the MEC's visit and I am optimistic that there will be a solution soon.”
Briefing Grocott’s Mail after the meeting, Nobanda’s representative, advocate Matthew Mphahlwa, said, “Our government should move very fast to intervene because it is very late in the day.” Mphahlwa also hoped for positive feedback.
"We expect progress. The issues we raised with the President and the MEC are issues of humanitarian concern. The [conditions]at Klong Prem are inhumane and degrading for South African citizens,” Mphahlwa said.
Mphahlwa said there had been no breakthrough in the applications for Nobanda's transfer to South Africa.
