Eight South African women have been locked up in a Mauritius prison for the past eight weeks, News24 reported on Monday.
It quoted Marius Mey, fiancé of 27-year-old Michelle Roux, one of the women, as saying: ”They have been held in the dungeons for the past eight weeks.
”They don’t have beds or linen, they aren’t allowed to shower and they have been wearing the same clothes. They have to use a chamber pot for a toilet.”
The women recently went a hunger strike in protest against the conditions under which they were being held.
According to the report, the South African government had done little to assist them.
”The last time South African embassy staff visited these women was in December last year,” Mey said.
”They don’t give a damn about them. The same applies to the Mauritius government. Only the British embassy tries to help the South Africans.”
Most of the eight women were being held after drugs apparently had been planted on them with or without their knowledge, but without their consent.
”They were moved to the dungeons after seven women Mauritius prisoners assaulted Michelle,” said Mey.
There are about 28 South Africans in Mauritius jails, all of them allegedly for smuggling drugs.
Roux apparently delivered a suitcase — in which 800g of heroin was hidden without her knowledge — on behalf of a friend to someone in Mauritius in June 2003.
She was arrested at the airport in Mauritius.
As a result of her testimony, the so-called friend and a Mauritius drug lord were arrested.
Roux has been kept in custody and still is awaiting trial.
”The drug lord threatened Michelle, saying she must withdraw charges, but she refused,” Mey said.
”I have paid thousands of rands for attorneys, air tickets and money into an account for Michelle. I have also lost a farm and a house, and I am working 17 hours a day to cover the costs.” – Sapa