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By Lethu Nxumalo 
55 m ago
Durban – A South African chef who has been living and working in Dubai for seven years faces drug charges. He claims that it was created by his former Egyptian roommate.
The roommate allegedly became a police informant to evade arrest and to obtain financial benefits believed to be given to those who help authorities arrest suspected traffickers.
Xola Msomi, 30, from Durban, a skilled chef who has worked at various hotels in Dubai, visited her family just before the national shutdown in March. About a month after returning to Dubai, he lost his job when the Dubai government implemented a total lockdown in April.
His mother, Bongekile, said that Msomi was still unemployed and that he had decided that once international travel was allowed, he would return home. However, in early September, Msomi found work at the Burj Khalifa.
“We were in constant communication and our last conversation before his arrest was on September 8. He remained suspiciously quiet and his brothers told me that he was unreachable, ”he said.
A close friend of Msomi, known as Melody, from France, who had also returned to her home country after losing her job, contacted the family a few days later to inform them that Msomi had been cheated on by her former roommate and she had been arrested.
She said the roommate had tried to force Msomi to sell him drugs and when he refused, because he allegedly had no relationships with any drug dealer and had never used drugs, the roommate threw cash at him.
“They told us that moments later the police broke into the apartment and demanded that he reveal who he was working for. Melody called the embassy but it was closed. He was finally able to communicate, but was told by an official that they could not get involved before Dubai officials informed him of the case, “Bongekile said.
The family then contacted Radha Stirling, a UK-based businesswoman representing detainees in Dubai, and they were told that Msomi had been transferred from isolation to the general population of the detention center.
“I couldn’t sleep or eat when it all started. I spoke to him for a minute last month and our connection was cut off, ”Stirling said.
She shared a video on Facebook indicating that Dubai had increased its focus on drug crimes, but that they were not seeking culprits, but rather to secure arrests and convictions that benefited not only authorities and prosecutors, but snitches as well.
“What they are doing is preparing someone just to get the financial incentive that is offered to them. This is what we have in a case of Xola being detained, but this is a general pattern that we are seeing in the UAE, putting tourists and expats at substantial risk of being arrested and convicted on drug charges at even though they have nothing. to do with drugs and never have. “
Patricia Gerber, director of Locked Up, an organization that helps the families of South African drug traffickers, said this was the most painful thing a parent or family had to go through.
Gerber said the first step for the Msomi family would be to contact International Relations to find out the charges. He expressed his lack of confidence in the South African government saying that many families in similar situations had previously been left in the dark.
“For the past fifteen years we have approached the government to enter into prisoner transfer agreements for everything that happens to our people, but they don’t seem to care. People arrested in foreign countries are not followed up, local investigations of information related to these cases are not carried out, ”he said.
“There are many other countries where our people are detained, but it takes years before there is even a court case that is a violation.”
Gerber said that in other countries prisoners were not allowed to communicate with their families and there was no comment on what was happening.
“The authorities of foreign countries do not care either, they are not interested in investigating. Foreigners are thrown in jail. I think it is time for our government to stand up for its citizens. It will be extremely difficult for his parents to help him, especially since the authorities in that country are not interested in his story. “
Lunga Ngqengelele, spokesperson for the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, said that for the department to know a case, it must be informed.
“We visit all South African prisoners abroad and there is a process that is being followed. For example, the embassy would inform us if someone has been arrested ”.
Msomi will appear in court again on December 22.
Sunday grandstand
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