Home Affairs facing R6.8bn in lawsuits

The Department of Home Affairs is being sued for R6.8 billion, according to its annual report. Victims of fraud and wrongfully detained foreigners are demanding around about R414 million in total, with other lawsuits coming from people erronously declared dead, people the department failed to issue with IDs, as well as people who got arrested after their IDs were used in a fraudulent manner. The heftier lawsuits relate to tenders and contracts, some R5 billion in total. Gijima AST Holdings alone are suing for R4.1 billion, after the department cancelled a tender worth R1.9 billion, but which Gijima had won for R4.5 billion. The department's spokesperson pointed out that all the R6.8 billion was just a possibility, but the public needed to know anyway. Read more: Sapa, via Business Report