Pretoria – The Anti-Corruption Unit of the Hawks in Gauteng has on Tuesday arrested a 36-year-old senior administrative officer at Department of Home Affairs in Nigel for allegedly masterminding the fraudulent registration births.
The Hawks had received information about the fraudulent activities at the said department and investigations were launched. Twelve fake birth registrations were found to have been done by the suspect and a further 388 fraudulent births were found to have been registered at the Department of Home Affairs in Alberton, allegedly by the same suspect.
The suspect would go into the Home Affairs system, select a name of a South African woman, register a foreign child with the details of the local woman as the biological mother. The birth certificates would then be sold to foreign mothers so that their children could qualify for the social grant and other benefits enjoyed by South African children.
More officials and foreign mothers are expected to be arrested as the investigations have been widened.
The arrested suspect will appear before the Nigel Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, facing charges of fraud and corruption.
