HOME AFFAIRS EMPLOYEE FOUND GUILTY  FOR FRAUD

The Calvinia Magistrate Court convicted Dawn Celeste Pieterson (45). She was found guilty on all nine counts of fraud, read with the provisions of section 99, 103, and 224 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 as well as two counts of contravention Section 31 (1) (d) of Birth and Death  Registration Act 51 of 1992.

Pieterson’s misdeeds took place between February 2019 and September 2022 when the accused person was an employee of the Department of Home Affairs based in Calvinia. As part of her duties, she had access to the national population register. 

Pieterson took funeral covers from reputable insurance companies and nominated herself as a beneficiary. To benefit, she manipulated the national population register by falsely issuing BI-1663 forms (notice of death form) to reflect the fictitious death of the victims.

The system registered the affected persons as deceased, resulting in a plethora of problems in the victims’ day to day lives.

The matter was postponed to 26 January 2026 for sentencing.