Zimbabwean gold syndicate kingpin accused of acquiring fake South African ID

AN investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in South Africa.

The home affairs officer probing the case found that Leon Magwaca, real name, James Sigauke, had been issued with the fake ID at the home affairs office in Carletonville, on the West Rand, in 2015.

He had been made the son of a Western Cape mother, allegedly without her knowledge, according to court documents Sowetan has seen.

On Wednesday, Magwaca and his co-accused appeared in the Pretoria High Court for a pre-trial hearing and their trial is set for February 2025.

Both the State and the defence agreed that in November they will meet in court to finalise the logistics of the trial while they aim to spend six weeks for trial next year.

Magwaca was the second in charge to Bethuel Ngobeni, the syndicate's kingpin, according to the State. He allegedly facilitated the illicit transactions and was involved in four gold transactions valued at R652,000.

The State alleges that Magwaca, working with the home affairs official, created a fictitious name which was then added to the notice of birth with the population register, which made him appear as the  son of one Nobongile Magwaca, who was based in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni.

A home affairs officer was assigned to trace the woman, however, nobody knew her at the said address in Daveyton, on the East Rand.

"I continued to search in the population register all children who were registered under Nobongile Magwaca. Through the information obtained at Sassa, I telephonically managed to get hold of [Odwa Magwaca], one of the alleged siblings to Nhlanhla Leon Magwaca [Sigauke], who is residing in Nyanga, Cape Town. Odwa denied knowledge of Nhlanhla Leon Sigwaca," reads a statement from the officer.

Sowetan understands that the woman has since passed on.

The home affairs official said a year later, Magwaca changed his tune in a statement and said he was actually from Chipinge in Zimbabwe, and that he had obtained his SA ID and passport illegally and that his real mother is Linah Sigauke, who stays in Zimbabwe.

In 2022, home affairs issued Magwaca with a notice of intention to cancel his SA ID.

One of Nobongile's daughters who did not want to be named said: "I don't know him at all."

Home affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza had not responded to Sowetan's questions sent on Tuesday.

According to the State, Magwaca used his bank accounts to make transfers to buy an R712,000 VW Golf 7R, Renault Clio (R70,000) and Toyota Hino truck (R310,000).

It's alleged that Magwaca registered the vehicles under his wife Neo Susan Duba's name. In March, the Asset Forfeiture Unit attached 51 vehicles, seven houses and 16 bank accounts belonging to the members of the syndicate.

The State has since uncovered that Magwaca came from Zimbabwe in 2003 and was known as James Sigauke.  Magwaca allegedly used his fake ID to accumulate assets for the gold trading syndicate.

Ngobeni has also been exposed for allegedly stealing a Mpumalanga man's ID.

Last month, the department of home affairs warned that nearly 700,000 IDs were at risk of being cancelled unless the owners explained by September 26 why they should remain valid.

The department said it was doing this in its effort to crack down on fraud related to identity books and cards.

According to the State, Magwaca and his alleged syndicate made millions of rand from buying stolen gold-bearing materials from mineworkers and selling them at inflated prices in the black market.

Lerato Bathebeng, Poppy Mathongwane, Dumisani Moyo, Duba, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Kudzai Mashaya are the other accused in the matter.