Two former Home Affairs officials have been arrested for their alleged links to a syndicate that fraudulently issued South African passports to foreign nationals for up to R100,000 each.
The arrests follow a joint investigation by the department’s Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks, which uncovered the syndicate in 2022.
The officials allegedly exploited weaknesses in an outdated manual process through “photo swapping”, using the identity details of legitimate South African citizens to obtain passports bearing photographs of foreign nationals.
Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber said the department’s digital transformation programme was closing loopholes through biometric verification and automated systems designed to prevent fraud.
He said the reforms aim to prevent corruption by design rather than detect it after the damage has been done.
Since the start of the seventh administration, 98 Home Affairs officials have been dismissed and 42 arrested as part of the department’s anti-corruption crackdown.
Schreiber commended the department’s Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks for their efforts to root out corruption.
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