Johannesburg - Police in Limpopo have confirmed the arrest of four former Home Affairs officials for alleged corruption and fraud on Wednesday.
It is alleged that the suspects, aged between 35 and 43, who were employed at the Tzaneen-based Department of Home Affairs, colluded with ordinary suspects, who were willing to sell their identities for small change, with the ring using runners recruiting South African citizens to apply for passports.
According to Captain Matimba Maluleke, a fifth suspect is still on the run and is being sought for being involved with the four suspects arrested for being part of the identity fraud ring.
Maluleke, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said these officials acted as though the normal process of applying for a passport would be followed, but when it came to taking the photos, they would call the foreign nationals to the booth. As a result, the passports would contain the particulars of South African citizens, but the photos would be of illegal foreign nationals.
This modus operandi has been alluded to by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who in July said some officials and ordinary South Africans were responsible for selling foreign nationals their identities in exchange for R1 000. This came after the department said it would be engaging in a clean-up campaign against such practices.
In the same month, the department dismissed two employees for fraud relating to the selling of South African identities to foreign nationals who did not deserve such documents. Another four officials were previously suspended for similar offences.
Phathisani Outshiki, from the Benoni office, was found guilty of gross misconduct for processing 111 documents for undeserving foreign nationals using the particulars of South African citizens for a fee of R1 000 per application, 98 of these documents were passports, and 13 were IDs.
In June, the minister urged South Africans to refrain from selling their identities to foreign nationals and identity thieves, as this renders them foreigners in their own country.
"We continue to be concerned about those South Africans who are willing to sell their identities. Such acts mean that those South Africans lose their status in the country to be replaced by a foreign national," the minister said.
According to Captain Maluleke, the suspects were discovered by the Home Affairs Counter Corruption Unit in May of this year, and the case was then referred to the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks) for further investigation.
"The Home Affairs Counter Corruption and Security unit discovered these illegal activities in May this year and referred the matter to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation. During the investigations, it was revealed that the citizens whose particulars were used would be paid R1000.
“The suspects, who were employed as administration clerks, were arrested in the Tzaneen area during a sting operation between the Hawks and Home Affairs Counter Corruption and Security members. All the arrested suspects are expected to appear in the Tzaneen Magistrate’s Court on Friday, November 25, 2022," Captain Maluleke said.
The Star