Mpumalanga Human Settlements HoD in court for alleged SA citizenship fraud

A Human Settlements Head of Department in Mpumalanga, Kebone Masange, 51, was arrested by Home Affairs officials on Wednesday following their probe to verify his status in the country.

The probe was launched after it emerged that Masange had allegedly been  in the country illegally since 1995 from Zimbabwe.

According to the national population register, Masange was issued with three different identity documents on different dates.

He allegedly applied for two of the identity documents as a South African citizen and the other one as an exempted Zimbabwean citizen granted in 1997.

That was at odds with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) amnesty that states that to qualify, an applicant needed to have continuously lived in South Africa since July 1991.

“A few months before the SADC exemption was approved, Masange reportedly submitted an application for notice of birth and his first RSA identity document at Ferreirasdorp regional offices in Johannesburg using the name Kebone Masangeni during March 1997. In the said application he claimed that he was born in Johannesburg.

“Again in May 1997 through misrepresentation he was issued with another identity document as an RSA citizen but this time he claimed he was born in Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu Natal. Masange reportedly managed to assist his then wife to obtain permanent residence status in January 2007.

“The accused was at some stage summoned to the home affairs offices for an interview after the three different ID numbers attributed to him were picked up on the system. He then deposed a sworn affidavit stating that he was born in Letlhabile, Brits,” said Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

Masange has been charged for fraud in contravention of the Immigration Act.

He appeared at the Pretoria Magistrate Court on Thursday and was released on a warning.

He is expected back in court on 11 September pending further investigations.

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