How a man fooled Tshwane Metro for 10 years at Reitvlei plant

In a case that has shocked both the City of Tshwane and the broader Gauteng community, police have arrested a man who reportedly impersonated a city employee at the Reitvlei Water Treatment Plant for more than ten years. The individual, known to colleagues as “Prince,” had been working under a false identity since 2012.

The revelation came after the plant’s Chief Operations Officer requested a formal investigation into suspicions of identity fraud involving Prince. City forensic teams launched a thorough probe, which quickly uncovered significant irregularities in his employment records.

Investigators discovered that Prince had been officially employed under the name Mohlaume Geoffrey Mamabolo, yet discrepancies in the identity documents associated with this name raised immediate red flags. According to the City of Tshwane, the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that the real Mr Mamabolo’s identity document was only issued in 2013. Attempts by Prince to apply for a smart ID card using the same number resulted in the document being blocked, further fuelling suspicions.

City spokesperson Selby Bokaba explained, “His fingerprints did not match the records in the Home Affairs database, suggesting that he might be a foreign national.” When confronted by officers from the Tshwane Metro Police Department, Prince failed to provide a satisfactory explanation and eventually admitted that he was not the individual he claimed to be.

Further inquiry revealed that the fraudulent ID he had been using for years was reportedly provided to him by someone in Polokwane, raising additional questions about how the document was obtained and whether others may be involved in identity fraud schemes.

Prince has been taken into custody and is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court. The city has emphasised that the case highlights the importance of ongoing verification processes for municipal staff and the need for vigilance against identity fraud in public institutions.

The case has sparked concern over how a person could maintain employment in a critical municipal facility for such an extended period without detection, prompting calls for stricter internal audits and verification procedures across government departments.