Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says the department’s intensified crackdown on corruption is yielding results, with arrests and prosecutions expected to continue as efforts to clean up civic services and immigration systems are stepped up.
Image: Ntswe Mokoena / GCIS
The Department of Home Affairs has arrested a naturalised foreign national in Johannesburg following an investigation into a fraudulent paternity scheme that allegedly resulted in five foreign children being unlawfully registered on South Africa’s National Population Register.
The arrest, carried out on May 12, 2026 at the Harrison Home Affairs office, forms part of an ongoing crackdown on corruption and identity fraud within the country’s civic services system.
Authorities allege that the suspect falsely claimed to be the biological father of five foreign children, using the fraudulent declaration to secure their registration under a naturalised South African identity document.
The move effectively placed the children on the National Population Register, triggering a wider investigation into the integrity of registration processes.
The Department said the operation was conducted through coordinated work between its Counter Corruption and Security Services branch and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation.
Officials say the case highlights how identity-related fraud can be used to manipulate state systems, particularly where foreign nationals are involved in registration processes.
The arrest forms part of a broader set of enforcement actions that have seen six arrests linked to Home Affairs corruption and fraud cases in May so far.
In a separate incident, a senior immigration officer was arrested in White River on 11 May 2026 on corruption charges after allegedly demanding a bribe in exchange for the return of identity and travel documents.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber welcomed the arrests, saying the department’s intensified clean-up campaign was yielding results.
“We are now securing dismissals, arrests and prosecutions on a near-weekly basis as Home Affairs ramps up our cleanup operation,” Schreiber said.
“Every crooked official and complicit member of the public must know that it is now only a matter of time until their turn arrives. As our crackdown accelerates, the days of sleeping soundly are over for the corrupt, as they now need to spend every moment wondering when it will be their turn. My answer to them, is simple: sooner than you think.”
The Department says further investigations are ongoing as it continues efforts to root out fraud and restore integrity within South Africa’s identity and immigration systems.
IOL News