The Department of Home Affairs has again come under the spotlight with the arrest of an ”illegal agent” caught issuing legitimate documents, Pretoria police said on Friday.
”Top-level discussions will be held with the Department of Home Affairs to find what the problem is,” said police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola.
News of the latest arrest came after 1 000 identity books were stolen from the department’s office in Limpopo, and a member of the community found identity documents dumped in a field near Rosslyn, Pretoria.
Searching the 65-year-old suspect’s home outside Soshanguve on Thursday, detectives described it as ”a mini home affairs office”.
Among the documents found were temporary permits for foreign nationals; marriage, birth and death certificates; school certificates for grades eight, nine and 12; social grant forms; and unemployment insurance fund forms.
Sebola said all had been filled out by applicants and carried official stamps.
The man was arrested in a sting operation on Church Square in central Pretoria, said Sebola.
He said an East Rand woman who had legitimately applied for an ID at the department’s offices in Pretoria was allegedly called by the ”agent” to say her ID was ready and to bring R350.
They agreed to meet in Church Square, Sebola said.
She alerted the organised crime unit of the police and the man was arrested.
”We think he must have had a contact in the department who gave him forms once they had been completed. He was acting as a sort of illegal sub-contractor,” he said.
It is believed he has been running the scam for about two years.
The man will be charged with corruption, Sebola said, adding that more arrests are expected.
Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Nkosana Sibuyi said there is no way the department will sub-contract any of its work.
”It’s not the way we operate,” he said, adding that the situation will be investigated immediately. — Sapa