This week a group of foreign nationals, who were caught boarding a flight with fake passports, were found guilty of fraud and contravention of the Immigration Act.
Two Congolese nationals Tausi Majani Kahwere, 25, and John Majani Kahwere, 44, were convicted by the Durban Magistrate’s Court on March 4.
The following day, Bangladeshi nationals Morshed Alam, 25, and Saiful Islam Sujon, 43, were also convicted together with 42-year-old South African, Oliver Whendle Hurriparsad.
“The foreign nationals were arrested between 2021 and 2023 as they were boarding flights to different destinations, already gone through the airport processes,” said Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation Unit, known as Hawks, spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale.
“It was reported that during 2021, a Department of Home Affairs official, Judy Zuma operating with a foreign nationals syndicate colluded with South African citizens to assist foreign nationals from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Democratic Republic of Congo to obtain South African passports by using their identity documents and biometrics,” she said.
“The foreign nationals fraudulently replaced the owners photos with theirs and assumed the names of the South African citizens.”
Zuma pleaded guilty and convicted on 1159 counts of Fraud, Corruption, Contravention of Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and Contravention of Identification Act.
The Congolese nationals will be sentenced on Friday, while the other trio will sentenced on May 21, 2024.
Zuma will be sentenced on April 5.
IOL News