Looking bewildered and tired, Johannes Joubert said he was relieved to be back on home soil after being jailed in Brazil.
|||Durban - Looking bewildered and tired, Johannes Joubert said he was relieved to be back on home soil after a terrifying time fending for himself on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The drug mule and former Durban car guard said he was stranded penniless in Brazil for nearly a year after completing his jail term.
However, he now faces a bleak future alone.
Joubert, 54, arrived at King Shaka International Airport on Friday, nearly five years after his arrest in Brazil for trying to smuggle cocaine into the country.
He was to have sought temporary accommodation at a shelter because the woman who was his fiancée until he was arrested, is in another relationship. He said he did not keep in touch with his family, who live in Potchefstroom.
Joubert admitted that the drug mule journey that had led to his arrest in February 2008, had not been his first.
“He had stopped doing this for a while and was a car guard when he was approached to go to Brazil,” said his former fiancée, who was at the airport to welcome him back. She did not want to be named.
He said he had shared a cell with four South Africans who were caught for drug smuggling.
He worked while in jail, but said he was robbed at the bus stop minutes after his release in February.
“The people there are not friendly and not willing to help you. It was hard for me to find a job because I spoke little Portuguese. It was very scary on the streets. I was robbed and beaten up three times.”
He said he slept at a shelter, but had to leave at 6am every day and could only return at 4pm, so he wandered the streets during the day.
“I had no contact with anyone back home. I spoke to no one because of the language problem.
“I begged the South African embassy to please, please help me. I told them I wanted to go home, but they didn’t help.”
Joubert said he had lost a lot of weight, as he had had only one meal a week.
When asked if he would be a drug mule again, he said: “Never again. I’m tired. I just want to stay here in South Africa.” - Daily News