The Former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the North West Department of Economic Development, Kudakwashe Mpofu, has appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court over allegations of contravening the Immigration Act.
Mpofu, who is originally from Zimbabwe, is reported to have used a fraudulent permit to enter and remain in the country. He is said to have used fake documents to gain employment.
On Wednesday, Mpofu handed himself over to the police after investigations by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and was subsequently arrested.
Following a brief court appearance, his matter was postponed to Tuesday for bail information and a possible bail application.
He remains in custody until his next court appearance, with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) having confirmed that it intends to oppose bail in the matter with the possibility of adding more charges against him.
Last week, Mpofu resigned from his position after the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, described the situation as a “national embarrassment”.
According to the minister, Mpofu, who is fighting through courts not to be deported, was informed as far back as June 23, last year, over the issue pertaining to his residence permit.
“Kudakwashe Mpofu’s permanent residence permit is fraudulent, was not issued by the Department of Home Affairs and we do not know where he obtained it from. We can confirm that the permanent residence permit reference number appearing on Mr Mpofu’s document does not exist in our system and we can further confirm that the control number appearing on Mr Mpofu’s purported document was not issued by the department to him but rather it was legitimately issued to somebody else.
“As to how Mr Mpofu came across that control number, we do not know,” the minister said during last week’s media briefing.
The minister said this issue and many other illegal immigration issues have led him to request President Cyril Ramaphosa to authorise a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) proclamation to deal with recent reports of irregularities at Home Affairs.
On Wednesday, spokesperson for the SIU, Kaizer Kganyago, said investigation into Mpofu’s fraudulent working permit is being investigated, as requested by the minister.
“As the SIU we can confirm that we are investigating the mater involving the CFO of the North West Department of Economic Development. When this matter was referred to us by the Minister of Home Affairs, we then took it through our processes where we wanted to check if it falls within our proclamation. It was found that it falls under Proclamation154 of 2024,” he said.
The Star