Times Of Swaziland: HOME AFFAIRS PROBE: GOVT SERVICES AT SOME WORKERS’ HOMES

HOME AFFAIRS PROBE: GOVT SERVICES AT SOME WORKERS’ HOMES
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Stanley Khumalo on 22/04/2024 08:39:00


MANZINI – As investigations into fraudulent activities at the Ministry of Home
Affairs deepen, it has been uncovered that most government services were offered
in the backyard of some civil servants’ places of abode.
The police, in their investigations, followed tips on allegations that there was
a ‘syndicate’ milking the State of thousands of Emalangeni, as they rendered
services of the ministry from their backyards. The investigators reportedly
found that some civil servants were selling government documents, such as birth
certificates, national identity (IDs) documents, marriage certificates, travel
documents, international passports, visas and work permits.  The sources said
these documents were found last week at the residences of some civil servants.
Along with the documents, it was said the police also found government stamps,
which were used in ‘authenticating’ the fraudulent paperwork.
Deployed
The sources supposed that some of the civil servants deployed to the Ministry of
Home Affairs had a big clientele among people of Asian origin and from some
north-eastern African countries. According to the sources, the modus operandi of
the decadent civil servants was that they dealt with agents who informed them of
people in need of these documents.
Thereon, it was said the civil servants would in turn bring the documents to
their residences, where they were picked up by the ‘clients’. It was said
some of the civil servants were also found with blank documents, which were said
be filled per ‘order’. The clients were said to have been paying the civil
servants in cash, as this was discovered during a raid of residences of some of
the civil servants fingered in the fraudulent act of releasing government
documents in the black market.
It was gathered that some of the civil servants were found with hard cash in
their houses, while others hid it in their vehicles. The sources claimed that
the breakthrough in uncovering the corruption at the Ministry of Home Affairs
came after the arrest of a Zimbabwe national. Delight Moyo, who is suspected to
have been a middleman between some of the immigration officers and
‘customers’ who needed passports, was arrested by the police under the
Serious Crimes Unit. Moyo was suspected to have been part of a syndicate dealing
in the sale of refugee status and passports to foreign nationals. When Moyo was
arrested, it was alleged that he was found in possession of five Eswatini
passports, suspected to have been stolen from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Further investigations uncovered that Moyo had been producing a fraudulent
passport to immigration officers in order to enter and exit Eswatini, through
Ngwenya Border Gate, since last year. The investigations also uncovered that
Moyo allegedly stole Eswatini Government passport book No: 0071943, which is
valued at E300. It has been alleged that Moyo acted jointly with other people in
the commission of the offence.  He was also charged with theft, as it was
alleged that he had received stolen Eswatini Government passport books No:
0072999, 0073327, 0071982, and 077733 valued at E1 200.  The passport books are
the property of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was also alleged that Moyo
offered a public officer an amount of E2 100 as an inducement to or a reward for
stamping and not reporting fraudulent passports No: 10337826, 10034578,
10440656, 10034326 and 10045233.
Bribe
The money, which is alleged to have been paid as a bribe to the public officer,
was handed over to the police. His arrest has since been followed by that of
Assistant Immigration Officer, Mboneni Nkosinathi Zwane, who has been charged
with 26 counts of fraud, theft and money laundering. Among the charges faced by
Zwane, is that of fraud, in that he produced a travel document and presented it
as authentic for his co-accused (Moyo). According to sources, more arrests are
expected to be effected as police intensify investigations into the alleged
fraudulent activities in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The police made the
breakthrough after an internal investigation into the issuance of e-visa to
foreigners. In 2022, it was reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs had
instituted an internal probe into the sale of refugee status and passports to
foreign nationals.
Police investigations reportedly found that there was a syndicate dealing in
documentation status and refugee passports. It was revealed that the syndicate
charged between E30 000 and E50 000 for fresh and legal documents for any
undocumented citizen, who wanted to be treated as an official refugee in the
Kingdom of Eswatini. The internal investigations saw over 100 immigration
officers transferred last year. Also, the theft of security documents such as
passports and travel documents, as revealed in the Ministry of Economic Planning
and Development 2023/2024 annual performance report, was so rife that government
intended to install a E3.99 million security surveillance systems in the
Immigration Office at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Challenge
At the time, the Immigration Office was faced with the challenge of the
disappearance and theft of security documents, such as passports and travel
documents. The report depicted that government would spend at least E3.99
million and the support went towards the procurement and installation of a
security surveillance system (digital surveillance cameras, control equipment
and other accessories) in selected Immigration Offices at the ministry, which
stored security documents.