Did 'al-Qaeda members' have SA passports?

[dArKeR]

By Makhudu Sefara

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday promised to smash a false passport racket, after reports that people with al-Qaeda links were in possession of South African documents.

Although she was personally not aware of the link with al-Qaeda, her department was in the process of devising means to eliminate the ease with which people fraudulently acquired South African passports and identity documents.

She was replying to questions from journalists in Cape Town following reported comments by national police commissioner Jackie Selebi in parliament that several people who had evil intentions were arrested in South Africa five days before the recent elections.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20040527133759374C637698&set_id=1

(Interesting connection between South Africa and Cheney!)



Officials held for selling IDs - SA

Bloemfontein - Twelve Department of Home Affairs officials and seven "runners" were arrested this week for allegedly selling identity and birth registration documentation, Free State police said on Thursday.

The arrests, mostly in Bloemfontein, come after a two-year investigation by the police and the department which found that large amounts of money were paid to home affairs officials to obtain illegal birth certificates, through which applications for identity documents and South African passports could be obtained.

Provincial Commissioner Moranodi J Gaobepe said up to R1 000 was paid for the IDs and the birth certificates' prices ranged from between R200 and R500.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1533715,00....

[dArKeR]

1. Let's not forget Hatfill in SA!

Expert Links SA to Anthrax Attacks

A biological weapons expert who worked at a South African university after serving with Rhodesian paramilitary units during Zimbabwe's civil war is at the centre of a US probe into anthrax attacks.

Steven Hatfill has been questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which this week searched his properties as part of the probe into the anthrax attacks after the September 11 World Trade Center atrocity.

Hatfill, a US citizen, spent a long period in South Africa, studying first at the University of Cape Town and later at the University of Stellenbosch, according to US press reports. However, a former colleague of his, Professor Ralph Kirby of Rhodes University's Department of Microbiology, this week said he could not believe Hatfill was behind the terror onslaught.

http://www.iconnect.co.ke/africa/32002.shtml