Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has welcomed the 15-year direct imprisonment sentence given to a corrupt immigration practitioner and an Ethiopian national who tried to defraud South African permits.
This follows the sentencing of immigration practitioner, Nasi Seqola and her accomplice, Biru Yosef Alem, an Ethiopian national who is a holder of a permanent residence permit.
Seqola tried to recruit an official from Government Printing Works (GPW) to print 5 000 blank permits. In return, the official was to be given R150 000.
The official reported Seqola’s advances to the Counter Corruption Branch, which worked with other law enforcement officials to set up the sting.
The 5 000 blank permits were printed by GPW and handed over to law enforcement officers. These permits were used in the sting and Seqola paid the R150 000.
Law enforcement officers moved in after the payment and took the cash and the permits. The permits were returned to GPW.
Seqola and Alem were found guilty in October 2021 and were sentenced to 15 years behind bars without the option of a fine by the Pretoria Magistrate Court on 4 April 2022.
Motsoaledi welcomed the sentence, saying it reflects the severity of the crime.
“People who do not respect the country’s immigration laws must face the full might of the law,” Motsoaledi said.
Motsoaledi noted that immigration practitioners are not employees of the Department of Home Affairs, and they must not be confused with immigration officers, who are uniformed Department of Home Affairs officials.
“Immigration practitioners are private businesses that assist foreign nationals to apply for permits. In other words, they act as third parties in the application process.
“Unfortunately, some of these immigration practitioners are not affiliated to any professional statutory body that regulates their conduct. Alarmingly, some do not have verifiable business premises,” Motsoaledi explained.
In a bid to gain advantage over their competitors, Motsoaledi said some immigration practitioners have resorted to bribing corrupt Home Affairs officials to get the applications of their clients expedited.
He said the practice had became so prevalent that the department had to stop recognising and regulating them in 2014, when it amended the Immigration Act of 2002 and issued new regulations.
He said anyone who needs a Home Affairs service can come and apply directly, and does not need to involve a third party.
The Minister commended the patriotic GPW official, who resisted huge amounts of money and remained honest to his job and country.
“In this scheme, Alem would have recruited foreign nationals who do not qualify for South African permits, and for a fee, bring them to Seqola, who would have completed a fraudulent permit and then used her corrupt contacts at Home Affairs to insert such a permit in the data base.
“Some immigration practitioners have had a corrosive effect on Home Affairs service delivery. They corrupted a lot of Home Affairs officials and by extension, tried to launch an attack on the sovereignty of our country,” Motsoaledi said.
Some immigration practitioners, the Minister said, do not even hide their corrupt tendencies because they advertise shorter turnaround times than the Home Affairs stipulated periods to process documents.
“They did this presumably because they were confident of their abilities to leverage their corrupt networks to prioritise applications for them. After Alem has finished serving his time, he will be deported to the country of origin,” Motsoaledi said. – SAnews.gov.za
