Former Home Affairs officer sentenced to 12 years for fraudulent passport scheme

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber welcomed the sentencing of former Department of Home Affairs official Judith Zuma last week as a “breakthrough in the fight against organised corruption.”

“The message sent by this conviction is crystal clear: if you engage in corruption, we will find you and we will pursue you until you are locked up. Under this new administration, we will not rest until we have cleansed the scourge of corruption from the face of Home Affairs,” Schreiber said in a statement on Friday, 2 August.

Zuma was sentenced by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Thursday, 1 August, to an effective 12 years’ imprisonment for her involvement in a fraudulent passport scheme. Zuma had pleaded guilty to all the charges against her, which included 192 counts of fraud and contravention of the Identification Act 68 of 1997, and the Immigration Act 13 of 2002.

In 2021, she was arrested in a sting operation after she had attempted to bribe a Home Affairs counter-corruption officer with R10,000. Zuma was dismissed from the department in December 2021, “following an internal disciplinary process,” said Schreiber.

“The court confirmed that Zuma, who was convicted for multiple offences, was part of a syndicate geared to deliver fraudulent passports for reward to foreign nationals who did not qualify for the documents. Zuma was found to have processed 192 passports between 28 May and 12 June 2021 for foreign nationals who did not qualify to have them. She was paid R4,000 for each passport,” he said.

“All the affected passports were red-flagged, meaning that anyone who tries to use these fraudulent documents at a port of entry will be immediately arrested. So far, two foreign nationals have already been locked away, serving time for their involvement in this corrupt scheme,” he continued.

The recent imprisonment of corrupt officials and foreign nationals engaged in fraudulent syndicates is the start of the toughest-ever corruption crackdown at Home Affairs. Let no one say they weren’t warned: if you engage in corruption, we will pursue you until you are locked up. pic.twitter.com/mtin0a5Hfp

— Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) August 4, 2024