<\/p>\n
The alleged fraud occurred in the country’s Free State province in 2023 and involved a method known as photo swapping.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The suspects appeared before the Bothaville Magistrate\u2019s Court on October 27. The case was postponed to January 20, 2027.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The arrests followed an investigation by the Department of Home Affairs Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo swapping exploits weaknesses in outdated systems to secure SA passports fraudulently by substituting an applicant\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Home Affairs said biometric verification introduced through the Department\u2019s digital transformation programme had since closed some of the loopholes previously used to commit passport fraud.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The latest arrests bring the number of people arrested in connection with corruption at Home Affairs to 44 since July 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another 98 officials have been dismissed during the same period. \u201cThese arrests send a clear message that those who exploited weaknesses in Home Affairs\u2019 systems will be held accountable,\u201d Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough our digital transformation reform programme, we have since closed key loopholes to prevent such fraud from recurring, while ensuring that those responsible for corruption do not escape the full might of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Schreiber said the Department was combining investigations and prosecutions with technological reforms designed to reduce opportunities for corruption.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Biometric verification links applicants to identity records throughout the passport application process, limiting the potential for photographs or other personal information to be substituted. \u201cOur approach is twofold: pursuing corruption without fear or favour, while using technology to eliminate opportunities for corruption in the first place,\u201d Schreiber said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how we are building a fundamentally different Home Affairs that does not merely respond to corruption, but systematically eliminates the opportunities for it to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Department said the investigation formed part of continuing efforts to protect the integrity of SA\u2019s identity and travel documents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41454,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-49495","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Two former South African (SA) Home Affairs officials and a member of the public have been arrested over the fraudulent processing of 10 passport applications at the Bothaville Home Affairs office.","published_date":"","news_description":"Two former South African (SA) Home Affairs officials and a member of the public have been arrested over the fraudulent processing of 10 passport applications at the Bothaville Home Affairs office.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49497,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49495\/revisions\/49497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}