Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and a former provincial government chief financial officer (CFO) are among notable names in a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation into the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
Acting SIU head Leonard Lekgetho led an SIU briefing on Monday, during which he detailed the findings in an interim report on the investigation.
The SIU has been scrutinising visa, asylum seeker, and residence permit irregularities spanning a 20-year period from October 2004 to February 2024.
Other notable figures featured in the interim report include Pastor Timothy Omotoso and the man who spectacularly crashed a supercar in Cape Town in March 2025.
‘Exploiting immigration systems’
Lekgetho stated that the investigation was prompted by whistleblower information alleging that foreign nationals were colluding with DHA officials to obtain various visas and permits.
“The SIU has identified a coordinated network of religious figures, pastors and prophets, exploiting immigration systems through fraudulent documentation, fake retirement confirmation, falsified financial means, marriages of convenience, and syndicate-backed sponsorships faking financial stability,” said the SIU head.
DHA officials benefited financially through the unlawful issuing of permits, using their spouses to receive and relay alleged bribes.
The officials exploited weaknesses in verification and monitoring systems to bypass compliance measures, then used dummy phones to receive ewallet payments ranging between R500 and R6 000 per transaction.
“External actors, including Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, Kudakwashe Mpofu, and Nigerian rapper Prince Daniel Obioma – also known as 3GAR – exploited influence, fabricated documentation, and manipulated systemic weaknesses to secure fraudulent residence permits,” stated Lekgetho.
Almost R200 million in illegal gains
To date, the SIU has tracked R181 million in illegal gains by foreign nationals and R16.3 million in funds secured by Department of Home Affairs officials from fraudulent activities.
The National Prosecuting Authority has been referred 275 criminal cases, with 111 investigations closed and 100 deportations actioned.
Additionally, 20 DHA officials had been dismissed since last April.
In one instance, a construction company registered in the name of the husband of a home affairs official received R8.9 million non-construction-related payments between 2020 and 2023.
The DHA has since flagged more than 2 000 study visas obtained fraudulently through these syndicates.
“South Africa’s immigration system was treated as a commodity. Permits and visas were sold, traded, and laundered.
“These findings show that corruption in the visa system is not incidental; it is organised, deliberate, and devastating to public trust,” said Lekgetho.
Religious leaders and a rapper
The religious leaders used their influence and church networks to facilitate the alleged fraud, with the SIU raising concerns about “money laundering and misuse of religious donations”.
Bushiri had 14 registered companies, with US$1.2 million paid in cash from one of his non-profit organisations.
“Our investigators found that religious donations were converted into bricks, mortar, and corporate shares,” said Lekgetho.
Congregants would assist with relevant applications and help asylum seekers prolong their stay through a protracted appeals process.
Omotoso is accused of gaining entry into South Africa illegally, after which he prolonged his stay by exploiting “administrative and procedural vulnerabilities within Home Affairs”.
Nigerian rapper 3GAR was in South Africa on a visitor’s visa, which he overstayed, only to leave and return without that cross-border movement being recorded.
“His unexplained re-entry highlights serious failures in border management and movement control systems,” said Lekgetho.
Mpofu, a Zimbabwean national, was the former CFO of the North West Development Corporation, who was convicted last year for obtaining a fraudulent Permanent Residence Permit.
He was sentenced in November to three years of correctional supervision as well as a second three-year prison term, which was suspended for five years.
Home Affairs’ response
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber described the investigation as a “synopsis of the state of Home Affairs inherited by the seventh administration”.
His predecessor, Aaron Motsoaledi, oversaw the Lubisi Report, which investigated 727 cases of corruption in DHA between April 2022 and September 2024 using this same modus operandi
Schreiber said on Monday that restoring faith in home affairs required rooting out fraud and corruption, enforcing accountability and implementing a digital transformation.
“By exploiting loopholes and the manual nature of visa processes, a mere handful of people had the ability to inflict all this damage on our country,” said the minister.
He stressed that the strides made by his department would go a long way toward realising a paperless, incorruptible DHA.
“Paper-based and manual processes have long created space for crooked officials to overlook fraudulent documents or approve applications that do not meet the relevant regulatory requirements.
“We are moving to shut down all of those manual processes and replacing them with new cutting-edge digital systems that leave no space for manipulation,” Schreiber stated.
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