South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, has praised the sentencing of Arfan Ahmed, a Pakistani national convicted of corruption and bribing Home Affairs officials in Krugersdorp. Ahmed, who was caught in a sting operation in March 2022, paid R45,000 to officials to help facilitate the illegal issuing of South African passports.
The sting operation, led by the Home Affairs Counter Corruption Branch, in partnership with the Hawks and Police Crime Intelligence, resulted in Ahmed’s arrest at the Krugersdorp Home Affairs office. Following his apprehension, a search of his home uncovered multiple passports that he was not authorized to possess.
Ahmed has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the passport fraud, and an additional ten years for his involvement as the ringleader of a widespread passport syndicate. He is now serving a total of 18 years in prison.
The syndicate, which spanned across Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and Mpumalanga provinces, aimed to unlawfully provide Pakistani nationals with South African passports. These fraudulent passports were used by individuals who were not entitled to them.
As a result of the investigation, 12 Home Affairs officials implicated in the scheme have been dismissed after undergoing disciplinary proceedings. Dr. Motsoaledi expressed his satisfaction with the sentencing, noting that it sends a strong message that crime and corruption will not be tolerated.
“Passport fraud is not a victimless crime,” said Dr. Motsoaledi. “Every South African suffers because of the consequences of these syndicates. Our ability to travel freely has been severely restricted, and we are now required to apply for visas in countries like the United Kingdom. This situation was avoidable, but it’s the result of actions like those of this criminal syndicate.”
The Minister urged South Africans to continue reporting such crimes to the police or Home Affairs officials to help combat corruption and fraud. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to rooting out these criminal networks to protect the integrity of South Africa’s identity documents.
Dr. Motsoaledi concluded by emphasizing that anyone involved in similar illegal activities would face the full force of the law.
