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04-03-2024 News24

UK couple`s visa renewal query, directed to Motsoaledi`s office, leads to alleged R60k bribe demand

A British couple living in South Africa applied for the renewal of their retirement visas and 10 days later they were allegedly asked for a R60 000 bribe. (Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images)
• A British couple living in South Africa applied for the renewal of their retirement visas in December 2022.
• After waiting for months for a response to their application, they emailed a private secretary in the minister`s office whose address they found on the Department of Home Affairs website.
• Twelve minutes later, they received an email from another home affairs official and 10 days later they were allegedly asked for a R60 000 bribe.
Just 12 minutes after a British man sent an email to a secretary in the home affairs minister`s office to ask about his retirement visa, he received a response from an official that ultimately led to an alleged demand for a R60 000 bribe.
In a sworn affidavit provided to the police, which includes copies of emails and WhatsApp conversations, Chris Campbell detailed how a request for information about the renewal of retirement visas for him and his wife led to an attempt to solicit a bribe from the couple in exchange for expediting the visas.
Campbell and his wife, Irene, applied for the renewal of their retirement visas through the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on 14 December 2022.
Their visas were due to expire on 19 February 2023 and they wanted to remain in South Africa.
Email trail
More than five months later, having not heard anything about their application, Campbell sent an email to Mamokolo Sethosa, the affidavit states.
He found her email address on the home affairs website, which lists Sethosa as a private secretary in the ministerial office.
In the email sent on 29 May 2023 at 18:15, Campbell asked Sethosa if she could ask Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi if he could indicate when they would receive their renewed retirement visas.
About 12 minutes later, Campbell received a response from another DHA official, Sabelo Mndebele, from the email address Sabelo.Mndebele@dha.gov.za, according to the affidavit.
It read: `Good day Mr and Mrs Campbell. I have received your request and will do everything in my power to assist. Can you send a scanned copy or picture of your VFS receipt. Also, can you send a contact number on which you can be reached.`
According to the DHA website, Mndebele is the Nerston Port of Entry office manager in Mpumalanga.
The following morning, on 30 May 2023, a person who identified himself as Mndebele called Campbell from a private cellphone, according to the affidavit.
News24 is in possession of the number, which is no longer in operation.
WhatsApp messages were sent to Campbell from the same number.
Campbell alleges they discussed that there were outstanding documents relating to their visas. Mndebele told him on the phone that he had sent him an email about it, which he did from his DHA email address.
Alleged extortion attempt
Eight days later, on 7 June 2023, Campbell said he phoned the cellphone number on which he and the person purporting to be Mndebele had originally spoken, and asked for an update on the visa paperwork.
`He replied saying that he could not recall the details and requested I send him the relevant information via WhatsApp,` Campbell said in his affidavit.
Campbell sent the information and, two days later, with no feedback, he sent another WhatsApp message requesting an update.
`Mndebele gave me a call and explained that the decision was not up to him, but he would communicate with the officials above him and see what he can organise and would call me back within 10 minutes,` Campbell said.
The contents of the conversation in the follow-up call, which was then reiterated in a WhatsApp message, was that the first time Campbell was told he would have to pay up to have the visa application expedited.
`Mndebele called me back and further sent me a message on WhatsApp stating that in order to get the application process moving and to receive the visas in [seven to] 10 days, I would need to pay R30 000 per application,` he said in the affidavit.
In a WhatsApp message seen by News24, the person identifying as Mndebele said:
Mr Campbell, total cost is 30 000 per application, 7 to 10 days outcome. Advise we waiting your response in order to initiate the process (sic).
The WhatsApp conversation continued from 17:24 to 18:17 with back-and-forth messages about the sum of money and how to make the payment.
The conversation included Campbell asking if a lower price could be negotiated to which he was told that R20 000 per application would be accepted if payment was made immediately.
`He requested this so he could bargain with his senior officials, and then I was to bring the outstanding amount the following week,` Campbell said.
According to the affidavit, after being asked which bank account Campbell would be paying from, he was sent a `confirmation of banking details` letter.
This letter, included in the affidavit, was for a Discovery bank account in the name of Michael Brits.
Campbell said he was unsure of how to make an immediate payment and told Mndebele that he did not have enough funds in his bank account.
He was then sent an image of an example of an FNB account with a circle drawn around the button he would need to press to make an instant payment.
Campbell told Mndebele he was having trouble logging into his bank account and would try again in the morning.
The response he said he received was:
My guys are now annoyed with me. Let`s cancel. I made them wait here till this late.
Deleted messages
According to Campbell, no money was ever paid.
Once Mndebele began deleting his WhatsApp messages, Campbell saved a second copy of the conversation to be able to prove what he was up to.
News24 sent questions to the Department of Home Affairs on Monday last week. No responses were forthcoming, despite several follow-up calls.
News24 also sent emails to both Mndebele and Sethosa`s official email addresses on Friday morning. Their responses will be added if received.
Police investigation
Campbell told News24 that he opened a criminal case at the Sandringham Police Station in Johannesburg on 13 June 2023.
However, he said he had only spoken to two detectives on two occasions since then.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo confirmed that a corruption case had been opened.
`The docket was first investigated at station level before the docket was transferred to SCI corruption in August 2023. The investigating officer whom the docket was assigned to was promoted elsewhere ... which prompted it to be assigned the current IO [investigating officer] in November 2023,` Mbambo said.
`The IO called the complainant in February to seek clarity in terms of the account number in question as part of an ongoing investigation.`
Mbambo said the investigation conducted so far had revealed that the `alleged official` was not known at the department.
`Investigation still continues and any developments on the case will be communicated with the complainant.`

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