Ex-Home Affairs official’s 8-year jail term for identity scams upheld

A FORMER Department of Home Affairs official, who falsely created entire families and then administratively “killed off” the children after insuring them, will have to serve her eight years in jail after her appeal failed.

Ntombizikile Luzipho was convicted on 22 counts of fraud and attempted fraud, as well as statutory offences involving the registration of fictitious births and deaths.

She had pleaded guilty to only four of the 22 counts. The four counts involved the fictitious registration of the birth and death of a non-existent child, Luzipho Mthetho, and the insurance fraud resulting from that one scam. Luzipho’s modus operandi, carried out with her co-accused and fellow former Home Affairs employee Marthalindi Hanabe, involved the creation of children by the registration of the fictitious birth.

This could not be done without first creating fictitious identity numbers for the “mother” and “father”.

The two women would then either personally, or using the services of an agent, take out policies with various insurance companies to cover the life of the fictitious child.

They would then process and register the “death” of the fictitious child and submit claims against the insurance companies by supplying false police reports or mortuary references and a notification of death. All that was left to do was collect the benefits of the insurance policies.

While admitting to the creation of the fictitious child Mthetho, Luzipho denied any involvement in four other similar scams which she said had only involved Hanabe.

But Judge Glenn Goosen, with Judge Thami Beshe agreeing, found that the evidence of an undertaker, who was complicit in the scams, made it clear she was involved in all five. Hanabe had also testified against her and had been found by the court to be a good witness.

Luzipho had appealed against both her conviction for several of the crimes as well as the effective eightyear sentence.

Goosen said the magistrate had not erred in finding her guilty of all counts. He said the judgment on sentence took into account her personal circumstances and the impact imprisonment would have on her minor children.

He dismissed the appeal and ordered Luzipho, who was out on bail, to report to the police to serve her sentence.