The Department of Home Affairs has fired two employees as part of ongoing clean-up efforts for fraud involving the sale of South African identities to foreign nationals who did not merit such credentials.
For identical offenses, four additional officials have been placed on suspension.
For processing 111 paperwork for undeserving foreign nationals using information from South African citizens for a price of R1,000 each application, Phathisani Outshiki, of the Benoni office, was found guilty of gross misconduct.
98 of these documents were passports, while 13 were identification cards.
Outshiki entered a guilty plea, after which he was fired. He is, however, contesting his firing.
The Germiston office’s Morena David Motsamai was found guilty of gross misconduct for processing 13 passport applications for undeserving foreign people while utilizing South Africans’ personal information.
For each application, he received between R2 500 and R5 000.
Motsamai admitted guilt but chose not to challenge the punishment. The next day, he was fired.
Both Outshiki and Motsamai are being investigated by the police for possible crimes.
The police are also looking for South Africans who sold their identities and foreigners who tried to purchase fraudulent South African passports.
Fortunately, all of the IDs and passports that had been processed fraudulently were recognized as fraudulent and deleted from Home Affairs records, leaving them useless and inaccessible to the holders. These papers were never used in any way.
Four employees at the Tzaneen office were put on administrative leave by the government on Friday, July 1 for allegedly processing fake documents. They have 10 working days to appear at their disciplinary hearings.
It was simple to catch the six officials because they were all on the Home Affairs Counter Corruption Branch’s radar without their knowledge or suspicion.
“We will aggressively and without fear eliminate corruption wherever it manifests itself.
We dare not fail but win this struggle. I am confident, with the help of citizens who are patriotic enough to disclose these unethical activities, said Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi.
More Home Affairs personnel who are implicated in these despicable activities are being sought after by Motsoaledi’s department, who stressed that they will continue to be detained.
In a same spirit, the Minister praised the exceptional majority of Home Affairs personnel who continue to work with honesty and integrity in spite of the lucrative temptations that a small number of others, who are currently being arrested, have succumbed to.
South Africans have been warned by the Minister once more to cease selling their identities to foreigners.
According to Motsoaledi, “If you sell your identity, you are replaced on our database with a foreign national, which means you will not be able to access services in the country.”