A Department of Home Affairs probe has revealed that three of its employees were involved in the possible fraudulent activity around the South African citizenship of former Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Adetshina.
On Tuesday, the home affairs department gave a presentation to parliament’s home affairs portfolio committee regarding the department’s ongoing investigation on Adetshina’s citizenship.
Addressing the portfolio committee, Advocate Constance Moitse, head of the department’s counter-corruption unit, said the investigation is now at an advanced stage.
Official linked to fraud has died
Moitse said the department identified three home affairs officials who allegedly registered Adetshina’s birth at a home affairs office in Johannesburg.
Moitse said one of the officials has since died, and the other two are still being investigated for the alleged fraudulent scam. She said the two officials under investigation are still working for the department.
She said the department has brought in the Hawks to investigate the possible fraudulent activity surrounding the South African citizenship of former Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Adetshina.
“The ongoing investigation of the department is looking at other areas that are important so that there is a fair and accurate conclusion to this case. The department’s investigation is at an advanced stage.
“This investigation will now include the involvement of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. The department’s drive towards digitisation will eliminate instances of fraudulent interference. This case highlights the need for caution as the department implements the court order on blocked IDs,” said Moitse.
Moitse reiterated the department’s stance that there are prima facie reasons to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by the person recorded in home affairs records as Adetshina’s mother.
She said Adetshina could not have participated in the alleged unlawful actions of her mother as she was an infant at the time when the activities took place in 2001.
Moitse said that an innocent South African mother suffered as a result of the alleged identity theft because she could not register her child. She said the victim’s identity may have been stolen as part of the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina’s mother.
Department relied on hospital birth records
Moitse said during the department’s investigation they relied on evidence from hospitals, the department’s archives and municipalities to trace and find the real South African mother whose identity was allegedly stolen.
She said the department identified three home affairs officials who allegedly registered Adetshina’s birth at a home affairs office in Johannesburg.
Moitse said one of the officials has since died. And the other two are still being investigated for the alleged fraud. She stated the two officials under investigation are still working for the department.
Moitse said the department’s evidence through its records showed that the South African mother whose identity may have been stolen was registered by her mother in 1982 and as a result she was entered into the National Population Register.
She said the mother’s birth was registered in Tshwane and she applied for an ID in 1995.
When she returned to home affairs, the mother learnt her ID was issued in Johannesburg at an office. She had not applied for an ID at this office.
