Five in court for marriage fraud

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 10 Dec 2007

Five Department of Home Affairs officials will shortly appear in the Pretoria Magistrate`s Court on fraud charges in connection with the abuse of the national population register - a mainframe system.

The five were arrested on Friday at the department`s Watloo, Pretoria, head office on charges of fraud and offences under laws governing the functioning of the Home Affairs department. Charges included facilitating fraudulent marriages between South Africans and illegal immigrants and unlawfully nullifying marriages.

Home Affairs director-general Mavuso Msimang says the arrests are in line with the department`s zero tolerance approach to corruption. "The department is using its resources and is also working with other law enforcement agencies in its fight against corruption committed by people inside and outside the department."

The five will face charges that between January and October they captured and registered over 1 500 fraudulent marriages and 200 faked late registrations of birth. They allegedly utilised user-IDs of officials who had retired, or been transferred, to gain access into the system in the absence of a functioning identity management system.

Home Affairs spokesman Jacky Mashapu says the five were part of a syndicate whose modus operandi included registering a fraudulent marriage between a South African woman and an illegal immigrant, back-dating the marriage and then within a few months nullifying the same union on the system.

Msimang says the loopholes used by syndicates are gradually being closed. "We are currently stabilising the IT network, as well as completing our designs for a future IT infrastructure that will allow the introduction of innovative new services to customers while also ensuring credible, secure enabling documents that safeguard citizens against identity theft," Msimang says.

He adds that the vast majority of Home Affairs employees are not corrupt. There are, however, "pockets of corruption which will continue to be dealt with whenever they manifest themselves".

The ex-State IT Agency CEO was appointed in May to turn around what many regard as SA`s most dysfunctional department. Since then, and up to September, 189 officials have either been dismissed or suspended. They have been criminally charged with crimes ranging from fraud, misappropriation of state funds, aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, unlawfully issuing documents, selling fraudulent documents, soliciting bribes and stealing "face value documents" such as identity books and passports.

"Of the 189 officials, 56 were dismissed for committing serious acts of misconduct. Meanwhile, during the same period we have suspended 34 officials and issued 99 final written warnings," Mashapu says.