Msimang boots out baddies

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 14 Jan 2008

Home Affairs director-general Mavuso Msimang had police arrest three more of his officials for fraud and corruption, as improved technology allows him to better boot out baddies.

The officials were arrested on Friday following a joint operation by the department's Counter-Corruption and Security Unit, the National Immigration Branch and Durban police detectives specialised in fighting organised crime.

GijimaAst late last year won what is said to be a R2 billion-plus tender to implement an integrated citizen-centric documentation system called "Who am I online (I am I said)", which gives the state a "single view of the citizen" and visitors.

This will both improve service delivery to citizens and close many of the loopholes used by criminals and corrupt officials to ply their trade.

Msimang vowed to increase service delivery after his appointment in May. He also promised to crack down on fraud and corruption in the department. Since then, arrests at the department's offices have been frequent. About 200 officials have now faced either criminal or departmental action - or both.

"We will continue to do this in the new year and going forward," Msimang said in a statement. "I want to congratulate the Home Affairs staff for their vigilance without which we would not be able to win the fight against corruption."

Home Affairs spokesman Mantshele wa ga Tau says the three arrests - two in Mpumalanga province and one at Cullinan, east of Pretoria - follows that of a 49-year-old Durban-based man on Thursday night.

Police spokesman superintendent Vincent Mdunge says the Durban man has been raking in millions of rand by manufacturing fake documents.

Mdunge told the SA Press Association the man was one of KwaZulu-Natal's biggest fraudsters. "He was making these documents and then charged people between R40 000 to R60 000 for it," he said.

Tau says the three officials will face 39 charges related to illegal issuing of IDs, passports, birth certificates and for assisting foreigners in SA illegally to acquire temporary resident permits.