Durban — The Durban Magistrate’s Court sentenced the Department of Home Affairs fraudsters on Thursday to lengthy sentences.
Anda Ngozi, 36, and Nomthandazo Eunice Mboyana, 45, were sentenced for more than 300 offences which included fraud and the contravention of the Immigration Act of 1997.
Ngozi was sentenced to 26 years but will serve an effective 10 years’ in prison and Mboyana was sentenced to 22 years to serve an effective 8 years in prison.
In sentencing them, magistrate G Davis said they were working for a syndicate which provided them with transport and accommodation when they had to come to commit fraud in Durban Home Affairs Offices, at Commercial Road, and Prospecton. He revealed that the pair said they committed these crimes because they needed the money. He said Mboyana had also received R125 000.
The pair were stationed at Home Affairs offices at Queenstown and worked as administration clerks.
They had both worked for the department for more than 10 years.
They were earning R21 000 a month. They had issued fraudulent passports to foreign nationals, with each passport priced between R3 000 and R5 000.
Davis said Mboyana would capture details on the system and Ngozi would photograph the foreign nationals.
“IDs of South African citizens were used to make these fraudulent passports. This is a serious crime. Crimes of corruption are like cancer in our country,” said Davis.
He said the pair did not only betray their employer but the Constitution by getting money to make fraudulent passports.
“The offences that they are found guilty of are serious and damage the reputation of the country,” he said.
He described the pair as important people in the syndicate because they made sure that it was successful.
Before sentencing them, he said the court would take into consideration that they pleaded guilty. Davis further said he would consider the rights of the children of Mboyana as she was the primary caregiver and was divorced. He said the rights of the children were important.
“The court would also look at the impact its sentence would have on the children.”
He said he accepted that the children would be affected by the incarceration of their mother but that did not mean she should not be punished for committing the offences.
The provincial manager at the Department of Home Affairs Cyril Mncwabe said they were happy with the sentencing and that Counter-Corruption Investigations, an investigation unit within the department, started with this probe.
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