A 29-year-old Ethiopian national and aspiring pastor, Abenezer Tilahyn, has denied any involvement in a large-scale fraud syndicate involving the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).
Tilahyn is the fourth accused in the R260-million Sassa fraud case, in which 11 individuals face over 1,300 counts of cybercrime, fraud, and theft. The charges relate to a brazen Sassa card fraud syndicate that allegedly operated between August 2024 and March 2025.
During his bail application at the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Tilahyn stated in an affidavit that he had been called by Tshilidzi Ramaphosa, accused number three in the matter, to meet up after requesting to see his housemate, but was unavailable.
It was during this meetup that he was arrested.
Claims search at his house was illegal
He claimed that after his arrest, authorities demanded to be taken to his residence, where they conducted an “illegal” search.
While nothing incriminating was found on him during the arrest, police discovered Sassa cards that allegedly linked him to the fraud.
However, he insisted that the cards belonged to his housemate. He maintained that he still does not understand why he was arrested or implicated in the case.
Tilahyn stated that he holds an Ethiopian passport and a valid study visa while pursuing a theology degree.
He said that he has no reason to flee South Africa. The accused added that he is engaged to a South African woman who is six months pregnant.
Andile Tshona, Sassa senior manager for media relations, previously told Sunday World that the number of people already arrested showed that this was a syndicate. Also considering that some of the accused are not Sassa officials.
Sassa confirms existence of syndicate
“If there are more arrests to be made, Sassa will be more than pleased. But we will leave it at the hands of the law enforcement agencies to do their work,” said Tshona.
“Eight of the 11 are Sassa officials, and certainly they know the ins and outs of Sassa. At this stage, we cannot confirm if there was any external hacking or not. That is part of the ongoing investigate work by the police,” he said.
Arrest them all, jail them all for a life time. South African laws and sentences need to be stricter. Then send the Ethiopian back to his country and ban him from SA permanently. There’s too many of these Foreign Nationals posing to be pastors and men of God.
The ANC is the curse of this nation, since they came to power nothing positive to say about the ANC.