The Department of Home Affairs has been successfully clamping down on the issuing of fraudulent passports and marriages since the beginning of this year.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said this in response to a parliamentary questions.
Motsoaledi said in his department a total of 185 passports were investigated and the passport numbers were blocked on the National Population Register, and also placed on the Movement Control Systems’ V-Stoplist since January.
He also revealed that whistle-blowers’ allegations pertaining to fraudulent passports, were followed up.
“The department then conducted investigations on those allegations and also profiled the User IDs of the implicated officials which uncovered that more passports were issued fraudulently.”
Motsoaledi said 12 officials were charged with misconduct with eight dismissals, and the remainder were still pending disciplinary hearings.
“The officials and members of the public involved have also been charged criminally for fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and contravention of the Immigration Act with the cases still pending in court,” he said.
According to Motsoaledi, 500 passports were identified as fraudulent over the past three years.
“Each time an investigation uncovered a fraudulently issued passport, they were referred for blocking of the passport numbers on the National Population Register so that the holders thereof cannot be able to use them.
“These were also referred for V-listing on the Movement Control System, which means that should the holders thereof attempt to use them at a Port of Entry, an Immigration Officer will be alerted.”
The minister added that the department had plans in place to combat fraudulent passports by intensifying the security measures which would be implemented in phases.
These include passports being only collected strictly from the office where they were applied for, and only the person who applied for that passport could collect it by activating it through a fingerprint.
“The department has also revised its standard operating procedures, manuals and policies regarding lost and stolen passports, and these are being implemented.”
He added that further measures were also under way at the Government Printing Works facility to continue to secure the passports.
“The department will make a determination and will make further announcements on the implementation of the further plans to be implemented in due course, when the ABIS programme has been completed.”
Motsoaledi said the department had reversed 553 fraudulent marriages since January 2022.
“Due to the number of fraudulent marriages reported every year, the department has implemented measures that have largely contributed in reducing the number of fraudulent marriages,” he said.
There is now the introduction of a new marriage register form which requires a photo and thumbprint of the couples for verification purposes.
“The department requires prospective couples to make an appointment with the nearest front office to verify the marital status and to subject themselves for brief interviews prior to registration of the marriage,” he said.
Cape Times