Home affairs officials bust

FIVE Department of Home Affairs officials, including pastors, were arrested yesterday morning when police and senior managers swooped on the department's Umgeni, Durban, offices.

The arrests follow on the heels of the arrest of another official and a member of the public on Tuesday.

In total seven people have been arrested over two days.

The police pounced on the five suspects yesterday morning soon after they had reported for duty. Some were caught with documents they were not supposed to have.

During the arrests documents such as birth, death and marriage certificates were confiscated.

Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the arrests followed ongoing investigations into allegations of fraud.

"It is part of police investigations relating to fraud," Ndlovu said. "Among those arrested are pastors whom we suspect were involved in arranging marriages for illegal immigrants.

"Investigations are continuing and more arrests are expected."

Sikhosiphi Dlamini, acting manager of the KwaZulu-Natal home affairs department, said the arrests form part of attempts to "clean the department of any corruption".

"First we must acknowledge that there are some "rotten potatoes" in the department. As a result we do everything possible to try and rid it of such individuals," Dlamini said.

He said they had received complaints from members of the public about the illegal marriages of South African citizens and immigrants that were reported to be taking place at the Umgeni offices.

"We then started our investigations, working with police," Dlamini said. "We arrested six employees and a member of the public.

"If we get information that illegal activities are taking place in any of our offices we will not hesitate to take action.

"We are doing our utmost best to clean this department and we would like to make an appeal to members of the public to report any form of corruption and or fraud that might be taking place or they suspect is taking place, and we will act decisively."

Those arrested are expected to appear in court today or tomorrow.