The Nigerian national was arrested during a police operation at a guesthouse where authorities allegedly found about 28 undocumented foreign nationals on Tuesday (30/6).

The arrest was confirmed by Free State premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, who visited the scene after police received information that people were allegedly being hidden at the property.

Letsoha-Mathae described the matter as particularly concerning because the guesthouse owner is married to a senior politician in the Mangaung district.

However, she urged the public not to jump to conclusions, stressing investigators are still determining whether the guests had legitimately booked accommodation or whether they were deliberately being concealed.

“The police are still busy with their investigations, looking at the guest book, whether people just booked genuinely and indeed they were not hiding,” said Mathae. “Those are the areas where I cannot comment, but I leave them to the police to finish the investigation.

“He’s now under arrest and will be transported to the nearest police station. I’m not yet sure about the charges. The police will process the case, and we’ll know later what charges he’ll be facing.

“Most of the undocumented foreign nationals we found don’t have documents. They are illegal immigrants from different countries, including Ethiopia and Nigeria.”

The premier accompanied by MEC for community safety, roads and transport Jabu Mbalula and director-general Dr Molefinyana Phera received a memorandum from scores of anti-illegal immigration protesters following a peaceful march to the provincial government offices, OR Tambo House, in Bloemfontein.

Addressing the hundreds of protesters, she commended both the organisers and participants for conducting the demonstration within the confines of the law. She also appealed to communities to refrain from entering into marriages of convenience with illegal foreign nationals.

Meanwhile, they set aside R20m to strengthen policing and law enforcement operations ahead of the planned nationwide protests and possible shutdown actions scheduled on Tuesday.

The funding was announced by provincial commissioner Lt. Gen. Thabang Lesia during a media briefing on Monday. The allocation would enable police to intensify operations across the province while maintaining normal day-to-day policing responsibilities.

The premier also revealed that police found a Nigerian passport together with the death certificate and South African identity document of a deceased South African woman.

She questioned how a visitor’s visa had allegedly been obtained using the details of someone who had already died.

“What is suspicious is that the visa states one condition; that the holder must reside with a South African. In this case, the visa was applied for after the death of this person.

“I will engage police to determine why the individual was still in possession of the deceased woman’s documents as investigations continue.”

OFM News/Zenande Mpame sm

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