Three people, one of them being a pastor, have been found guilty of credit card fraud in which Absa Bank suffered a loss of R1 million.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the trio were convicted in the Eastern Cape High Court on various charges.
The accused are 30-year-old Pakistani national, Muhammad Afzal Yaseen, 46-year-old pastor, Khaya Honeman Nocanda, and former Absa manager of the Middelburg branch, Mandisa Mirriam Ndletyana, 33.
NPA provincial spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali said the three accused were part of an initial seven-member syndicate that was initially indicted on 255 counts.
“This involved an elaborate scheme involving the fraudulent acquisition of credit cards from the Middelburg branch of Absa Bank in the period between August 2019 to December 2019,” explained Tyali.
In court this week, the NPA said Yaseen was convicted of participating in the affairs of an enterprise, through a pattern of racketeering activity, 17 counts of trafficking in persons, 49 counts of fraud and 14 counts of theft.
Nocanda was found guilty of managing the operations of an enterprise in contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, as well as participating in the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering, eight counts of fraud, four theft charges, two counts of money laundering and four of acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of unlawful activities.
Ndletyana was found guilty of participating in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering and three counts of fraud.
Tyali said before the commencement of the trial, one of the accused died and a further two Pakistani nationals, who were out on bail, absconded “presumably back to their country of origin”.
“Prosecution also had to be stopped against one former bank employee due to the stroke she suffered which prevented her from continuing with her defence.”
In explaining the case, Tyali said Yaseen and his accomplices were part of an enterprise whose objective was to defraud Absa Bank by securing credit cards on a false and fraudulent basis in the names of third parties whom they trafficked from the Beaufort West in the Western Cape to Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape.
“The more than 27 victims were transported under pretences of there being employment for them in Graaff-Reinet, ostensibly at a business owned by another Pakistani national,” Tyali said.
“The victims were misled into

believing that they needed to open bank accounts at the Middelburg branch of Absa Bank into which their future salary payments would be made.
“They were sent to Beyers Naude Municipality offices where they were incited to obtain false proof of residence documents.”
Tyali said the victims were given false salary advice slips and then taken to Middelburg Absa Bank to apply for credit cards.
“Upon favourable outcomes of the said credit applications, limits of which ranged between R10,000 and R35,000 per person were granted,” Tyali said.
“Yaseen and members of the enterprise would take control of the cards and would proceed to empty the relevant loan accounts, by way of incremental cash withdrawals.
“The victims would be compensated with small amounts and transported back to Beaufort West, still jobless.”
Nocanda, who managed the Middelburg leg of the enterprise, deceived members of his church into believing that he was able to assist them in improving their socio-economic circumstances.
“With the assistance of Ndletyana and the other bank official, he used the same false documentation as Yaseen to secure credit cards from the same bank branch.”
Tyali said once the credit cards were approved, the pastor took control of them.
“The victims were offered a choice of any item in the store, up to the value of R5,000 per person,” Tyali said.
“Nocanda would then pay for these items with the proceeds of the fraudulent activity, thus laundering the money through the business of the enterprise. The members of the enterprise would share the remaining spoils among themselves.”
According to the NPA, the syndicate was exposed after a Pakistani national alerted the Absa Fraud Hotline.
“This person further risked his life by even testifying in court on behalf of the State.”
Sentencing is expected in January.
It is further alleged that during the initial stages of the trial, Nocanda, while still out on bail, allegedly attempted to have the investigating officer as well as several witnesses murdered by approaching a traditional healer and enlisting hitmen to commit the murder.
“The plan failed and his bail was withdrawn. His case relating to the attempted murder has been remanded for trial to commence in 2024.” V.5113

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s indifference to the plight of those affected by his decisions is appalling In the tumultuous seas of immigration law, where uncertainty looms and families are left adrift in bureaucratic limbo, the department of home affairs has emerged as a sinking ship. As a director of a firm of immigration attorneys I’ve witnessed first-hand the dire consequences of the department’s negligence and incompetence. Today, I raise my voice not just as an attorney but as a concerned citizen, urging for a radical overhaul to salvage what remains of our immigration system. We have tirelessly fought battles in the courtroom against home affairs’ disregard for agreed-upon time frames. Countless cases have landed on our desks, each one a testament to the systemic failures plaguing the department. We’ve seen cases where contempt applications were the only recourse, as the department brazenly ignored court orders. V.5307
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Document proposes overhauling the Citizenship Act, the Refugees Act and the Immigration Act and a review of the international treaty on refugee protection Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the cabinet has approved a white paper overhauling the country’s immigration laws after “robust engagements” that resulted in “wide support” of the document’s policy positions. V.5308
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The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. The lost hours are largely due to system downtime, surpassing load-shedding. In the 2022/2023 financial year, where we experienced extensive load-shedding, system downtime was the cause of 41 691 hours lost (17 years), whereas load-shedding caused around 9 322 hours lost (4 years) at DHA civic offices on the production of smart IDs. V.5309
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JOHANNESBURG - Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi said that while the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection had been gazetted, there were amendments that needed to be made to the legislation before it could be passed into law. The White Paper is proposing an overhaul of the country`s migration laws, with the aim of tightening rules around allowing migrants into the country. V.5310
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Highly skilled professionals are leaving South Africa to move to other countries, while the local economy faces a skills shortage. Data from The Outlier revealed that there were just over 900,000 South Africans living abroad in 2020. This number has increased steadily over the past 20 years, from 500,000 in 2000, according to Stats SA’s Migration Profile Report for South Africa 2023. Of these 900,000 people, 7 out of 10 are living in either Europe or Oceania. In particular, Australia and New Zealand have seen a large growth in South African residents. In 2020, around 273,000 South Africans were living in those two countries, more than double the 106,000 who lived there in 2000. The UK remains still the top destination for South Africans who leave the country. V.5311
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The Department of Home Affairs is going through a torrid time. As The South African reported earlier this year, naturalised South Africans are being refused smart ID cards. This is despite having the same constitutional rights as every other South African citizen. Now, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has decided to clarify the reasons behind lengthy delays for spousal visas.Business Tech reports that some spousal (and relatives) visas are taking up to two years to process. The minister of Home Affairs says this is because documentation and claims need to be verified. Replying to a parliamentary Q&A session, the minister says the issue is being addressed by the Home Affairs ‘Backlog Eradication Plan’. V.5305
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Border Management Authority SA commissioner Mike Masiapato on Sunday revealed that over a 10-day period during Easter nearly 4,000 people were intercepted attempting to enter the country illegally.Addressing a media briefing, Masiapato said 2,403 of those intercepted did not have any documents at all. Another 1,019 individuals were refused entry for being undesirable and 419 were found inadmissible to enter the country due to various reasons.“The majority of those arrested without documents were intercepted at the vulnerable segments of the borderline. They were processed, declared undesirable for five years, and were deported. Most of the inadmissible individuals were found with invalid passports, fraudulent visas or just failed to produce relevant documents such as valid yellow fever certificates, especially those travelling from yellow fever endemic countries,” Masiapato said. V.5303
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Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says surveillance drones, speedboats and hand-held biometric devices have been ordered to help manage the country`s porous borders. South Africa`s land borders cover about 4,700km. Insufficient security and the poor state of fencing make the borders insecure, with foreigners entering illegally and allowing other acts of criminality. V.5304
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has blamed visa backlogs on the growth in the number of notarial contracts being instituted by foreign nationals using non-existent spouses. Motsoaledi was speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, on Tuesday on the amended immigration regulations, over which he said there seemed to be some misunderstanding. He said as a result of the confusion, the department would be withdrawing the gazetted amendments to clear up the misconceptions and would re-gazette them as early as next week. The minister admitted that his department was experiencing a backlog surrounding dependants, spouses and relatives’ visas being sought by foreign nationals who had been approved to come into the country after successfully obtaining employment. He said in most cases while the approvals were easily obtained, they did not include spouses and dependants, which many were decrying as they were not willing to be separated from their families. V.5298
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