Northern Cape Home Affairs official jailed for faking deaths to cash in on funeral policies

A DEPARTMENT of Home Affairs official who abused her access to South Africa’s population records to fake deaths and cash in on funeral insurance payouts has been sentenced to prison, bringing a years-long fraud case in the Northern Cape to a close.

Hawks provincial spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Tebogo Thebe confirmed that Dawn Celeste Pieterson, 46, was sentenced on January 26 by the Calvinia Specialised Commercial Crime Court after being found guilty on multiple counts of fraud and statutory offences.

The court heard that Pieterson’s crimes were committed over an extended period, between February 2019 and September 2022, while she was employed at the Department of Home Affairs in Calvinia. Through her position, she had authorised access to the national population register – a level of trust she exploited to devastating effect.

Investigators uncovered that Pieterson took out funeral policies with reputable insurance companies and listed herself as the beneficiary. To trigger the payouts, she manipulated official records by unlawfully issuing BI-1663 notice-of-death forms, falsely declaring living people as deceased. Once the system reflected the fabricated deaths, funeral claims were processed and paid.

The consequences for the victims went far beyond financial loss. Being incorrectly recorded as dead on the national population register caused serious disruptions to their everyday lives, affecting access to services and official documentation. Four insurance companies collectively lost R334,634 as a direct result of the fraudulent claims.

Pieterson was convicted on nine counts of fraud, read with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, as well as two counts of contravening the Births and Deaths Registration Act. For the fraud convictions, the court imposed a sentence of five years’ direct imprisonment.

On the contraventions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, taken together for sentencing, Pieterson received 12 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years. She was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The provincial head of the Hawks, Major-General Steven Mabuela, commended the investigation and prosecution team for their work in unravelling the scheme and securing the conviction.