DURBAN, Monday 5 October 2026 — A former Home Affairs official has been convicted on 264 counts of fraud, corruption and immigration-related offences over a scheme that enabled foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain South African passports from the department’s Pietermaritzburg office.
Tholithemba Malusi Mlondo, 34, was convicted in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 1 October following an investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation unit.
He was found guilty of 66 counts of fraud, 66 counts of corruption, 66 contraventions of the Immigration Act and 66 contraventions of the Identification Act.
Mlondo remains in custody and is due back in court on 13 November for a pre-sentencing report.
Passport scheme operated outside office hours
The offences relate to activities at the Department of Home Affairs office in Pietermaritzburg between February 2022 and July 2023.
According to the Hawks, South African citizens facilitated the fraudulent acquisition of South African passports by foreign nationals.
The activities were conducted outside normal operating hours, including during evenings, weekends and public holidays when the Home Affairs office was officially closed.
The case was subsequently investigated by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s Serious Corruption Investigation unit.
The Hawks have described the conviction as part of their efforts to address corruption and other unlawful activity affecting Home Affairs.
66 counts in each offence category
The scale of the conviction reflects four separate categories of offences linked to 66 instances.
Mlondo was convicted of 66 fraud charges and 66 corruption charges, alongside 66 violations each of the Immigration Act and Identification Act.
The convictions establish Mlondo’s criminal liability for those offences.
Public information released by investigators does not yet provide the identities or nationalities of the foreign nationals who obtained the passports, the amounts involved in each corruption transaction or whether every fraudulently obtained passport has subsequently been cancelled.
It also does not establish the criminal liability of other people who may have participated in the broader scheme.
Passport integrity remains a Home Affairs priority
The case concerns one of the state’s most sensitive identity systems.
South African passports establish citizenship and identity for international travel, making fraudulent issuance a potential risk not only to Home Affairs systems but also to border management and the credibility of South African travel documents.
Home Affairs has been pursuing wider reforms intended to reduce opportunities for document fraud, including greater digitisation of identity and immigration services.
The department has also faced repeated cases involving officials accused of manipulating immigration or identity systems.
The Mlondo case differs from an allegation or ongoing prosecution because the criminal proceedings have now resulted in convictions on all 264 counts reported by investigators.
Immigration prominent ahead of local elections
The conviction also comes as immigration and the enforcement of immigration laws have become increasingly prominent political issues ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
Several political parties have placed undocumented migration, border management and the employment of foreign nationals prominently in their campaigns.
The IFP said during its eThekwini manifesto launch at the weekend that it would use intergovernmental structures to push for the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals if it governed the metro, while acknowledging that immigration itself is a national rather than municipal responsibility.
Other parties have adopted differing approaches to immigration enforcement and the treatment of foreign nationals.
The Home Affairs passport case is separate from those political debates, but demonstrates the role that corruption inside state institutions can play in undermining immigration and identity controls.
Sentencing set for November
Mlondo has remained in custody since his arrest and will remain detained pending the next stage of proceedings.
The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court postponed the case to 13 November for preparation of a pre-sentencing report.
The sentence will determine the criminal penalty arising from the 264 convictions.
Any further prosecutions arising from the passport operation would constitute a separate development as investigators continue efforts to identify and prosecute people involved in corruption affecting Home Affairs systems.
