Pretoria – German national Willi Breuer was arrested on Tuesday following an investigation by the Department of Home Affairs.
The 61-year-old, who has been living in South Africa illegally since 2005, is being held at the Lindela Repatriation Centre.
Head of the department’s Immigration Inspectorate Unit, Modiri Matthews told GCIS radio he was now in the custody of the department and they would be effecting his deportation.
“We will be contacting the authorities in his country in order for them to issue emergency travel documents so we can affect his deportation as soon as possible.”
He explained that the department had initiated an investigation into Breuer following a tip off that he was in the country illegally and that he had managed to secure a meeting with President Jacob Zuma. Media had published a picture of Breuer photographed next to the President.
“Based on that information we did an investigation to confirm whether his status was legal. We found he wasn’t in the country legally and that he had in fact been in the country for a number of years without any status. He had been attempting to start a business and he wasn’t working.”
Mathews said with the help of the SAPS, the department was able to locate his address and affect an arrest.
“We brought him to the Lindela holding facility to effect his deportation. We intend to do that once we have made contact with his country in order to confirm his identification and arrange for emergency travel documents for him to leave the country,” said Mathews. – SAnews.gov.za
