MUSINA – An employee of the local office of the Department of Home Affairs was to appear in court again this week on charges of having assisted in forging a South African identification document for an illegal Zimbabwean immigrant.

The Organized Crime Unit of the South African Police in the Vhembe area arrested the male official along with two other people, one female, in connection with alleged fraud and corruption. They appeared before the Musina District Court last Friday and were granted R5 000 bail each. The departmental employee paid his bail and was instructed to stay away from his workplace for the next 14 days and to refrain from interfering with any of the witnesses. The female was instructed to hand in her passport and to report regularly at the police office.

It is alleged that the illegal immigrant liaised with a 37-year-old female suspect, who in turn had contact with the 34-year-old employee of the Department.

The alleged fraud came to light when the complainant in the case recovered his ID document, only to find somebody else's picture on the document. With the aid of the photo on the forged document, he eventually traced the illegal immigrant to Matswala Township in Musina. He then reported the matter to the police.

The three suspects are to appear in court again on May 21.