Home Affairs officials
nabbed for corruption at Lebombo border
Updated
Nov. 12, 2021, Jacaranda FM
Six
officials from the Department of Home Affairs have been arrested at the Lebombo
port of entry in Komatipoort.
The officials were arrested in
connected with fraud, corruption, and the contravention of the Migration
Act.
The
officials, who are stationed at the Lebombo border post, were arrested
alongside a police officer and a Mozambican national.
Home
Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi visited the area on Friday said the arrests
followed an 18-month long police investigation.
“The
officials who were arrested today together with the hawker who was directing
them as a result of this tip off, have been under surveillance by a team of the
Hawks and Home Affairs counter-corruption for a period of 18 months.
“It’s not
something that happened in one day they have been under observation. These
people are involved in an elaborate scam that is at the roots of lots of
problems regarding the issue of immigration into South Africa.”
Motsoaledi
said the elaborate scam consisted of collecting passports from people whose
time in South Africa is about to expire.
"The passports
were then taken to the Mozambican lady who is the master and the runner of the
scam, who has a network of officials that she works with here at the
border.
"The
lady will then get the officials to stamp the passport as if the owner of the
passport has been through the border and back."
The
suspects are expected to appear in court on Monday.
www.samigration.com
