HONJISWA Mbewu can't wait to see her daughter's smile.
And when she does, it will be the first time in two years. Mbewu is the mother of drug mule Nolubabalo "Babsie" Nobanda, who was arrested for smuggling 600g of cocaine in her fake dreadlocks at the airport in Bangkok.
"The first thing I want to see is her beautiful smile," Mbewu said on the eve of her departure to visit Nobanda in a Thailand jail.
"I'm so excited," Mbewu said.
"I'm taking her sweets, biscuits and biltong. She doesn't like biltong, but I'm taking it to remind her of home."
Other items include underwear, toiletries and books and magazines for her exams, which she finishes next Friday. Nobanda, 25, from Grahamstown in Eastern Cape, has served two years of her 15-year sentence at Klong Prem Central Prison.
She is in the second year of her communication studies with Unisa, which also earned her a job teaching prison authorities English this year - something her mom is eager to hear about.
When she is not working or studying, she spends much of her time with a close friend from Free State, Thando Pendu, who was arrested in 2008. The pair were featured in Hazel Friedman's latest book, Dead Cows for Piranhas, which explores the dangerous lives SA drug mules are deceived into.
Friedman, accompanied by a camera crew, is travelling to Thailand with Mbewu, where they are filming a documentary on drug mules.
Sowetan further established that Mbewu's visit was part of the family's efforts to obtain a royal pardon from the Thai king.
However, advocate Matthew Mpahlwa, who is representing Nobanda, would only say: "It is fitting and legitimate [efforts to obtain pardon] at this stage, as processes are at a critical stage."
The legal team wrote a letter to President Jacob Zuma in July, calling for "urgent intervention" to ensure "better treatment" of South African prisoners in Thailand.
The letter also urged the government to enter into a prisoner-transfer treaty with the Asian country.
However, Mbewu said they were still awaiting government response.
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