News / Africa
South African Home Affairs official and son arrested
29 Dec 2010 at 13:39hrs | Views
A LIMPOPO woman yesterday learnt the hard way that corruption does not pay when she was arrested for allegedly issuing birth and marriage certificates, passports and identity documents illegally to foreigners.
The woman, who may not be named pending her court appearance, was arrested with her son.
It all started when officials from the Department of Home Affairs and members of the police's crime intelligence went to the woman's office in Louis Trichardt to arrest her.
She was found in her office. All her equipment, including computer, cellphones and papers in her possession, were confiscated.
Among the confiscated documents were clinic cards for children, copies of IDs of various people and several passport photos.
The woman works as a supervisor responsible for civil matters in the department.
She is believed to have been involved in a scam that dates back to 2006, when several Pakistani nationals were allegedly issued with South African documents from her office.
After her arrest the officials drove with her to her home where the search continued.
Piles of documents belonging to Home Affairs were found in her house.
A further search led to the discovery of another pile of documents that were slightly burnt.
This resulted in the subsequent arrest of the woman's 26-year-old son, who was charged with interfering with evidence.
The two were driven to Pretoria, where they were to be be locked up until other accomplices had been arrested.
Most of them were said to be living in Gauteng.
According to Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa more arrests were expected to be made of people who worked with the woman in the scam.
"We want to thank the police for their cooperation and support in pushing back the frontiers of fraud and corruption," Mamoepa said yesterday.
He said it was Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's ongoing campaign to rid the department of corruption.
"This is just the beginning," he said.
He said that implicated officials would be suspended from work pending the outcome of the criminal cases.
The woman, who may not be named pending her court appearance, was arrested with her son.
It all started when officials from the Department of Home Affairs and members of the police's crime intelligence went to the woman's office in Louis Trichardt to arrest her.
She was found in her office. All her equipment, including computer, cellphones and papers in her possession, were confiscated.
Among the confiscated documents were clinic cards for children, copies of IDs of various people and several passport photos.
The woman works as a supervisor responsible for civil matters in the department.
She is believed to have been involved in a scam that dates back to 2006, when several Pakistani nationals were allegedly issued with South African documents from her office.
After her arrest the officials drove with her to her home where the search continued.
Piles of documents belonging to Home Affairs were found in her house.
A further search led to the discovery of another pile of documents that were slightly burnt.
This resulted in the subsequent arrest of the woman's 26-year-old son, who was charged with interfering with evidence.
The two were driven to Pretoria, where they were to be be locked up until other accomplices had been arrested.
Most of them were said to be living in Gauteng.
According to Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa more arrests were expected to be made of people who worked with the woman in the scam.
"We want to thank the police for their cooperation and support in pushing back the frontiers of fraud and corruption," Mamoepa said yesterday.
He said it was Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's ongoing campaign to rid the department of corruption.
"This is just the beginning," he said.
He said that implicated officials would be suspended from work pending the outcome of the criminal cases.
Source - Sapa
