R100,000 for a SA Passport? Hawks Bust Alleged Home Affairs Fraud Scheme

• The Hawks arrested a 46-year-old foreign national on 29 September 2026 as part of a long-running passport fraud investigation
• The scheme allegedly involved Home Affairs officials swapping photos on legitimate South African identity details to issue fraudulent passports
• The suspect faces charges of fraud, racketeering, corruption and contravening the Immigration Act and is due in court on Wednesday

GAUTENG — A 46-year-old foreign national appeared set to face court on Wednesday after the Hawks arrested him on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, for allegedly paying government officials to secure fraudulent South African passports.

According to IOL, the arrest was made during a multidisciplinary, prosecution-led operation. Hawks national spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the investigation traces back to December 2021, when authorities first received information about a suspected network linking Home Affairs officials to foreign nationals seeking fraudulent travel documents.

How the passport fraud scheme allegedly worked

Read also

2 Congolese nationals arrested in Musina with 1,312 blasting cartridges worth r131,200

According to Mogale, investigators found that Home Affairs officials allegedly worked alongside vulnerable South African citizens to facilitate the fraudulent applications. The method centred on photo-swapping: a foreign national's photograph would be inserted into the legitimate identity details of a South African citizen, effectively allowing the foreign national to obtain a genuine passport under a false identity.

The financial incentives within the alleged scheme varied significantly by role. Home Affairs officials reportedly received between R10,000 and R15,000 per application processed, while South African citizens recruited to provide their identity details were paid as little as R500. Foreign nationals seeking the fraudulent documents were allegedly charged between R50,000 and R100,000 for the service.

The Hawks conducted the investigation in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs' Anti-Corruption Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit.

See post here:

Project Humulani leads to convictions and seizures

The investigation was formally structured as "Project Humulani" in April 2022 and covered cases linked to Krugersdorp, Kliptown, Fairlands, Tubatse and Germiston.

Mogale confirmed that the project had already resulted in the arrest, conviction and sentencing of an alleged kingpin across two separate cases. That individual received a 14-year direct imprisonment sentence.

Home affairs official jaled for selling SA passports

Previously, Briefly News reported that a Department of Home Affairs official who worked in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal ran an elaborate passport scheme that saw her receiving 35 years imprisonment. udith Zuma faced 1159 charges for aiding a criminal network that operated in Richards Bay, outside her jurisdiction. She paid South African citizens between R300 and R500 for their fingerprints. She then used these fingerprints to create and obtain passports for foreign nationals.

Source: Briefly News