The City of Johannesburg's Department of Public Safety has put several measures in place after a foreign national was arrested on Monday for allegedly using a fraudulent South African ID to try to get a position as an insourced security guard.
It is suspected that the alleged fraudster pretended to be a beneficiary of the City's monumental project to insource 4 000 security guards who were previously outsourced to various security service providers.
"We have been carefully monitoring the people arriving for the insourced security positions and there have been several attempts by unscrupulous individuals trying to cheat the system in order to secure positions," Member of the Mayoral Committee for Public Safety Michael Sun said.
"We will not tolerate such behaviour and the arrest of this [alleged] fraudster is a stern warning to those trying to defraud the City and rob the rightful beneficiaries of their opportunities."
The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department is assisting with the project and has since taken the foreign national to the Sophiatown police station.
To eliminate the chances of fraud and impersonation, applicants are now required to go through a two-stage check system before they present themselves at an interview desk.
The City has already completed the first stage of the insourcing of 1 600 security guards, who have already started working.