Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber is putting the brakes on corrupt officials.
The department said the officials faced transgressions relating to irregular recruitment, violation of the Citizenship Act, and the violation of the Immigration Act.
Between July and September this year, the department has finalised 31 disciplinary cases against errant officials that have resulted in a range of sanctions, including criminal prosecution, dismissal, suspension without pay and final written warnings.
Schreiber said these actions reflect the department’s intensified commitment to enforcing ethical governance and accelerating disciplinary and criminal sanctions against officials engaged in maladministration.
Eight of the cases came from the Free State, followed by six from KwaZulu-Natal.
“While we are committed to empowering the many officials who uphold ethical governance and dignified service delivery within Home Affairs, we have zero tolerance for unethical conduct or corruption. As our accelerated action against errant conduct demonstrates, officials who fail to heed this message will soon find themselves out of Home Affairs and on their way to prison,” said Schreiber.
“One such official who failed to abide by the required standards of ethical conduct is Mr Mogale Raseone, whose trial is set to start on 6 November. He is facing fraud charges. Raseone was dismissed from the department last year after the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings. He was implicated by the Counter-Corruption Branch in multiple fraudulent transactions that benefited mostly Pakistani nationals.”
He allegedly committed this fraud by manipulating the system Home Affairs uses to administer immigration.
“These cases make us even more determined to pursue digital transformation to close opportunities for manual and paper-based processes to be exploited towards corrupt ends. Digital transformation holds the key to uprooting corruption in our systems, while enhancing the efficiency of service delivery,” he said.
According to Schreiber, Dora Ncube, a suspended Border Management Authority (BMA) official who was recently detained in Beitbridge while allegedly attempting to smuggle six foreign nationals into the country, is another official who is awaiting her day in court.
Her bail hearing started on Monday in Musina, Limpopo, and is scheduled to be finalised on Tuesday.
Schreiber said these prosecutions follow the recent conviction of two dismissed officials, Judy Zuma and Tony Stout, for similar crimes.
He said further arrests are expected as Home Affairs, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), assisted by the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigations (the Hawks), progresses with the implementation of Proclamation 154 of 2024.
“Our determination to root out corruption is absolute, as winning this fight is essential to our vision of turning Home Affairs into a respected and ethical institution that delivers dignity to all our clients,” he said.
This message encouraged regular people to voice their concerns and opinions about Home Affairs on the social media site X.
X user, Simon Ramala, said: “Good job, well done, but please don’t forget to block the fraudulent IDs and Passports, we understand that is a very big and sensitive issue, but the sooner the better, we need to think about the South Africans who are stranded and denied their rights because of fraudulent IDs.”
Another user, Mama Nyakalo, wrote: “Sebokeng Branch has us on the queue outside with people without appointments while we had appointments. We have been in the queue since 09:50 for a 10am appointment.”
The Star