The husband of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Executive Mayor Lulama Titi-Odili has been arrested after South African police discovered about 28 suspected undocumented foreign nationals at a guesthouse linked to him in Bloemfontein.
The arrest, confirmed on Tuesday by Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, followed a joint operation involving the South African Police Service (SAPS) and immigration authorities amid heightened nationwide enforcement against illegal immigration.
According to the premier, law enforcement officers found between 28 and 29 foreign nationals who had allegedly been staying inside the guesthouse for about seven days.
“It’s a guesthouse where we had about 28 to 29 people that were arrested because they were hiding in this place,” Letsoha-Mathae told journalists, adding that food was allegedly being delivered to the occupants while they remained indoors.
Authorities say the investigation has widened after officers reportedly recovered a Nigerian passport together with a South African identity document and the death certificate of a deceased South African woman. Officials are investigating how the documents came to be in the suspect’s possession and whether any immigration or identity fraud offences may have been committed.
The premier stressed that although the deputy mayor’s husband had been taken into custody, investigators were still examining the circumstances surrounding the occupants of the guesthouse, including whether they had lawfully booked accommodation or were deliberately being concealed.
Police and officials from the Department of Home Affairs are also verifying the identities and immigration status of those arrested. Initial findings indicate that many of those detained were unable to produce valid immigration documentation, with some believed to be nationals of Ethiopia and Nigeria.
The arrest comes at a politically sensitive time as South Africa witnesses growing public pressure for stricter immigration enforcement, with anti-illegal immigration demonstrations recently taking place in Bloemfontein and other parts of the country.
