By Celani Sikhakhane
- Thembeka Mchunu can’t open credit accounts after a foreign national used her identity documents and blacklisted her.
- The suspect, in the country illegally, was denied bail because of a record of dishonesty and being a flight risk.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is calling for a tougher crackdown on illegal border crossings after his wife became a victim of identity theft.
Mchunu’s wife, Thembeka, is now blacklisted and unable to open credit accounts after her identity was stolen by an illegal foreigner.
Speaking outside the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court, Mchunu said criminals were taking advantage of South Africa’s weak borders.
“This country should not be a playground for illegal foreigners,” he said.
Fifty-year-old Ndubuisi Okeke was arrested for faking Thembeka’s documents. He was denied bail on Thursday after the court ruled he was in the country illegally and had a history of dishonest crimes.
“The evidence of the investigating officer was not disputed. There were a number of concessions made. Bail is refused,” the magistrate said.
Mchunu said this was not the first time he had been targeted. “My phone was once cloned by an illegal foreigner working with a prison warder in Pietermaritzburg. The foreigner got three years in jail. The warder was released.”
He added that he had recently met with the Minister of Home Affairs to discuss the growing problem of border crime.
KwaZulu-Natal has been hit hard by the issue. On Friday, residents of Manguzi found a stolen car near the border with Mozambique. The car had been abandoned just before it crossed into the neighbouring country.
Pictured above: Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Image source: File
