The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, welcomes the arrest of two former Home Affairs officials and a member of the public in connection with passport photo-swapping fraud committed in 2023 at the Bothaville Home Affairs office in the Free State.
The arrests follow an investigation by the Department's Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks into the fraudulent processing of ten passport applications. The three suspects appeared before the Bothaville Magistrate's Court on 27 October 2026, with the matter postponed to 20 January 2027.
The arrests bring the total number of individuals arrested in connection with Home Affairs corruption since July 2024 to 44, alongside the dismissal of 98 officials.
The case involved the exploitation of weaknesses in outdated systems to fraudulently obtain South African passports through photo swapping. While those implicated are now facing the full might of the law, the Department has since, through biometric verification, closed certain loopholes that were used to commit passport fraud in the past. This is part of its broader digital transformation reform programme, which is systematically designing corruption out of Home Affairs.
Minister Schreiber said: "These arrests send a clear message that those who exploited weaknesses in Home Affairs' systems will be held accountable. Through our digital transformation reform programme, we have since closed key loopholes to prevent such fraud from recurring, while ensuring that those responsible for corruption do not escape the full might of the law.
Our approach is twofold: pursuing corruption without fear or favour, while using technology to eliminate opportunities for corruption in the first place. This is how we are building a fundamentally different Home Affairs that does not merely respond to corruption, but systematically eliminates the opportunities for it to occur."
Media Enquiries:
Carli van Wyk – Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 079 166 3899
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