The Ga-Rankuwa Magistrates Court has postponed the identity theft case against Farai Mapeye to 20 December after his defence lawyer left court to attend to an emergency. Mapeye has been charged with fraud and being in South Africa illegally and is expected to apply for bail next month.
It is alleged that Mapeye stole the identity of Michael Maluleke and used it for over two decades and secured a job using Maluleke’s identity. The 43-year-Maluleke told newsnote he struggled for years to get an identity document from the Department of Home Affairs and his stolen identity was affecting his work performance.
“I thought this issue was resolved until I encountered problems at work. I tried to gain entry at a company I work for as I do everything. But after it upgraded its system, I was denied entry because the face that appeared in the system was of another person. The company I work for advised me to go and fix this problem,” said Maluleke, adding that he can’t get married or even apply for an RDP house.
“I can’t apply for loans, I can’t get married because this person got married with my ID number. I applied for an RDP house and I am informed that I already have one,” he added.
