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By PHUMELELE MTSETFWA | 2024-10-18
Assistant Immigration Officer Lungile Mazibuko who was testifying against the two suspects sharged with fraud and theft in the ministry of home affairs, revealed that she stamped passports at a fee varying from E400 to E700 for each.
Mazibuko explained the role she played in committing the offences which Zimbabwean national Delight Moyo and Immigration Officer Mboneni Nkosinathi Zwane are facing.
She was giving her testimonybefore Mbabane Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi where the two suspects appeared.
They are facing 33 counts related to fraud and theft.
Moyo is represented by his lawyer Sive Ngwenya in the matter while Zwane is represented by lawyer Osborne Nzima.
During the last court appearance, Moyo pleaded guilty to only five counts while Zwane denied all the allegations leveled against him.
Meanwhile, Mazibuko said she had been working in the ministry for the past 14 years.
Mazibuko said she was transferred to Ngwenya Border Post in 2016, where she specialised in stamping passports for people who entered and exited the country.
She alleged that she would be piad E500 for stamping illegal passports she received from Zwane.
She also claimed that Moyo would pay her E700 for stamping each passport. She added that Haizo Nkwanyane would pay her E400 for stamping each passport.
She would share the amount with someone on the South African side of the border who would extend 30 days in the passports.
Moyo’s illegal international passport reflects Dube
ASSISTANT Immigration Officer Mazibuko claims she knew that Delight’s surname was Dube because the illegal international passport he used reflected same.
However, she alleged that she later discovered that Delights’s surname was Moyo because she saw it on his Zimbabwean passport in March.
She claimed she met Moyo when he was collecting a passport from her towards the end of 2023, adding that she also knew Zwane because they used to work together in the ministry under civil registration in 2013.
According to Mazibuko, Zwane was later transferred to the Shiselweni region while she was deployed to Gege. They would sometimes call each other and she would go to Nhlangano to check on him.
In 2016, they worked with another officer Sam Ndlovu who had a friend named Haizo Nkwanyane who used to travel a lot.
“Sam was transferred to Mbabane in 2022, then Nkwanyane came to me carrying passports. He told me that he was working with Ndlovu to stamp the passports and asked me to assist him with stamping the passports,” she alleged.
Mazibuko claimed Nkwanyane was carrying a lot of international passports. she said she understood that he wanted them to do something illegal when he asked her to stamp the passports.
“They did not belong to him and he told me that he was going to pay me.”
SA immigration officer received share of money
Lungile Mazibuko has claimed that she would share the ‘stamping fee’ with an SA immigration officer who would stamp the passports on the South African side.
She alleged that she would receive E400 for stamping each passport and she would share half with the immigration officer on the South African side.
Mazibuko alleged that Nkwanyane’s wife would bring passports to be stamped at least once a week.
“She would call me and I directed her to my house so that she could drop the passports. The fee would be tucked inside the passports,” she said.
On another note, she said last year she received a call from Zwane asking her if she knew anyone who was issuing illegal international passports, hence she sent him Nkwanyane’s number.
stamp
“Nkwanyane’s wife said they knew Zwane and that some of the passports stamp belonged to him,” she said.
Zwane would allegedly pay E500 for each passport. He paid in cash or send the money through e-Wallet.
She further stated that last year October, Zwane told her that someone was going to call her to fetch the passports, hence she received the call from Moyo who asked for the passports.
Five passports were stamped by immigration officer
AT least five of the passports allegedly stamped by Immigration Officer Mazibuko were brought before court as part of her evidence.
She acknowledged having stamped them with an entry and exit stamp.
Mazibuko also positively identified the stamps she used, and also the E2 100 cash following that the items were brought to court as part of evidence. The matter was postponed to October 28 for continuation where Mazibuko would be cross-examined.
List of the passports
1. Leon Dube-stamped 11 times
2. Letsile Shelly Mahlangu-stamped three times
3. Daniel Siziba stamped four times
4. Delight Dube stamped six times
5. Benjamin Larbi-stamped once.
Police seized E2 100 from immigration officer
WITNESS Mazibuko has claimed that the police came to her house and questioned her about the passports she was taking from Zwane and the money she was receiving.
Mazibuko said she handed over five passports to the police together with the money amounting to E2 100, which she had received through e-Wallet.
She said she was then taken to the police station to record a statement. She informed them that Moyo was coming to collect the passports on a Saturday.
She said the police handed the passports back to her and instructed her to inform them once Moyo collected them.
“Moyo arrived in the country on a Friday then I met him the following day in the morning where he paid me E2 100 after I paid him the passports.
I informed the police that I gave him the passports.” She handed over the money to the police and recorded a statement. Mazibuko said Nkwanyane and his wife came to her house after Moyo was arrested to find out what had happened.
She alleged that she no longer received any passports from them after Moyo’s arrest.
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