7 Home Affairs officials arrested for contravention of Immigration and Identification Acts
Seven Department of Home Affairs (DHA) employees have been arrested in connection with issuing fraudulent passports to undocumented foreigners.
This forms part of an ongoing operation run by the Serious Corruption Investigation component of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) in Pretoria.
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The operation emanates from a complaint by the DHA relating to the issuance of fraudulent passports.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale explained that allegations included corruption, fraud and contravention of the Identification Act and Immigration Act.
The crimes reportedly took place between February 2020 and July 2023, with the facilitation of fraudulent passports from DHA offices in Durban, specifically the Commercial Street branch.
'These unlawful activities took place outside regular business hours, including evenings, weekends and on public holidays when the DHA offices were officially closed,' said Mogale.
'Preliminary investigations by the DHA confirmed that local citizens [were] offered R300 to R1 000 in exchange for their co-operation, especially at DHA offices in Isipingo, Durban Central and eShowe, resulting in a case being opened for investigation.'
To date, 38 people have been arrested between September 2022 and now, seven of whom are DHA officials and 31 private citizens, explained Mogale.
He said 24 individuals – four of them DHA officials – were convicted and sentenced to a combined 310 years' imprisonment.
'The remaining five suspects were arrested by the Serious Corruption Investigation on Saturday in various parts of Durban and will face charges of corruption, fraud, contravention of the Immigration Act and contravention of the Identification Act,' he said.
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