Staff Reporter
PAULINE Mbangula, a 30-year-old Namibian woman who was arrested in September 2024 at South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport after arriving from São Paulo with over 68 pellets of cocaine ingested in her stomach, is set to make her fifth court appearance and is expected to enter a plea on the charges of drug trafficking next Friday, 11 April 2025.
This was confirmed by Namibia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Veiccoh Nghiwete, who said that Mbangula is scheduled to appear at the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court, in Kempton Park.
“Pauline Taleninawa Mbangula, a suspect in drug trafficking, detained at Johannesburg Correctional Facility, commonly referred to as ‘Sun City’, as per ORTIA CAS 137/09/2024, for possession and possible dealing of cocaine, appeared in Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court on 26 February 2025. She was represented by counsel/attorneys appointed by Legal Aid, and her case was set for a date to be agreed upon between the prosecution and the defence, for plea and trial,” Nghiwete said.
He added that although further arrests have been made since her arrest at ORTIA, no Namibian national has been detained since then.
He also mentioned that other arrests made at OR Tambo International Airport include Rody Kema, a holder of a Netherlands passport. The suspect was arrested while travelling from ORTIA to Paris, France, on a flight on 30 December 2024, with drugs worth R78,499.99, comprising 39kg of KHAT. Another suspect, Ornelle Sandra Mekougang, a holder of a Peruvian passport, was apprehended on the same date while attempting to board a plane to London Heathrow and was found in possession of 75.85kg of KHAT, with a value of R151,700.00.
