The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs reported to Parliament today that the department's three officials were allegedly involved in the fraudulent registration of former Miss SA contestant Chidimma Adetshina's birth at their Johannesburg office. The committee also revealed that one of the officials has since passed away and the remaining two are being investigated.

IDENTITY FRAUD VICTIM IDENTIFIED

In the report, the department said their records show that the woman whose identity might have been stolen by Adetshina's mother was registered by her mother in Tshwane in 1982. She was then entered into the National Population Register. According to the report, the woman applied for an ID in 1995, and three months after the application, she returned to Home Affairs to collect the ID, only to be told her ID was issued in Johannesburg at an office where she had not applied for it. The woman is said to have given birth in 2001 and when she went to register her child at Home Affairs, she discovered that there was a child registered under her ID number. "The child that was registered was Ms. Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina. She then spent months before she could be given a new identity number. Home Affairs has visited the address listed for Ms. Adetshina's mother and that of the lady whose ID was stolen. The information shared by the family of the lady whose ID was stolen in Tshwane matches the details contained," the report said.

HAWKS INVESTIGATING THE MATTER

In the process of investigation, Adetshina's mother was issued with a Promotion of Administrative Justice Act letter on 7 August 2024, and the department said her response to the letter will determine the final decision that they will take in relation to the ID she is currently carrying. The deputy director general for counter-corruption and security at Home Affairs, Advocate Constance Moitse, told Parliament that the on-going investigation is also looking at other areas that are important for the fair and accurate conclusion of the case. "The department's investigation is at an advanced stage. This investigation now includes the involvement of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks.)," Moitse said. She added that the department is also seeking legal advice on the implications of the alleged fraudulent activity on Adetshina's citizenship status. "Our drive towards digitisation will help eliminate instances of fraudulent interference," added Moitse.